The Gold’or mining company was sentenced to a € 100,000 suspended fine on Friday for acts of environmental pollution by the criminal court from Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni who recognized one “Ecological damage”, a first, we learned from legal sources.
The public prosecutor had requested € 80,000, including € 40,000 suspended. For the first time in Guyana, the court also recognized the principle of “Ecological damage” and condemned society to “1 € symbolic”.
These facts of « pollution » had been observed in July 2018 by agents of the National Forestry Office (ONF). The NFB, which had taken legal action, said “Very satisfied” of this conviction.
Gold’or’s lawyer, not present at the hearing, announced that he would do ” certainly “ appeal of this judged decision “Inconsistent”. According to him, “There is a deliberate will to condemn” car “Everything is null at the level of the procedure”.
An “important warning”
In July 2018, ONF officers observed a « pollution record » by particles in suspension of the mud type in a watercourse near the artisanal gold mine Kokioko 1 owned by the Gold’or company in Mana.
Gold’or is owned by the Ostorero family. Businesswoman Carol Ostorero is also president of the Guyana Mining Federation.
This decision is a “Important warning”, also estimated the lawyer of the ONF.
The Ostorero family is a partner with the American multinational Newmont in the “Espérance” industrial gold mine project, a “bis” mountain of gold. This mine, whose deposit is estimated at 65 tonnes of gold, obtained a favorable opinion on April 29, 2020 from the departmental mining commission of Guyana.
“It now seems inconceivable that we can accept a very polluting mega-mine project (with) managers who pay little attention to environmental standards on their active mine” estimated in a statement Guyana nature environment, civil party in the lawsuit.
– .
