- mystery how same land allocated twiceBy Leonard GildarieAmidst calls for a review of the operations of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC)- the country?s regulators of the gold and diamond mining industry-one Mahdia woman is crying out for a full investigation.Virginia Serieux, 32, said that the entire situation at the GGMC smells of corruption and she is calling on government to now intervene.Serieux said that she grew up in Mahdia, eventually marrying and working several claims around the goldfields of that area.Last year, with her husband, they saw a piece of land that no one was working at the time. Using GPS equipment, they were able to map the coordinates.?We went into the Mahdia office of GGMC and they tell us that nobody ain?t working on it.?The land is known at GGMC as Mahdia Block 174; about 50 acres in size and located not far from Small Konawak in the Region Eight area.The Serieux family then went to GGMC?s main office in the city where in early October, GGMC took an application fee and an $11,000 rental for the piece of land.?I went back to Mahdia and officers there said they would be going in to survey the land.?NightmareAccording to Serieux, it was then that her nightmare began. GGMC officials went to the land and surprisingly found two dredging operations in full swing. The operators were warned to remove.?However,[url=http://www.wholesalenfljerseyssale.us@#$%&/]Cheap Jerseys From China[/url], one of the dredges, owned by a Mr. Tappin of Linden, asked to close off his operations and he will split with us. I agreed.?In November, the woman said she visited the camp,[url=http://www.wholesalejerseyssale.us@#$%&/]Cheap Jerseys Authentic[/url], and was told by the owner that they would not be sharing the proceeds.?He showed me a GGMC receipt that he is in control of the land. The receipt was dated after the October date that I had made my application.?The woman, who had already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in supplies, said she was shocked since GGMC at no time told her that someone else had applied for the mining block. To make matters worse,[url=http://www.cheapestnfljerseys.us@#$%&/]Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping[/url], the dredge operating there had paid rental for the land after she had done so.RefusalGGMC officers visited the dredge several times after that, issuing a number of cease work orders. The dredge owner reportedly refused to remove.?I went to Mr. (William) Woolford at GGMC and he called a Ms. Fay from the Land Management Department, querying how Mr. Tappin could have paid. He instructed then that the gentleman collect a refund for his application.?According to Serieux, she was assured that the ?block is mine and I would only have to wait the 90 days for the mining permit.?Serieux travelled back to Mahdia where the dredge operations there continued and GGMC officers seemed powerless to remove it. Even attempts by GGMC to serve Tappin with a letter to collect his refund failed.?I went back in January to GGMC and the Land Management Department said that they could not locate the file on my claim.?In desperation, the woman said she went back to Woolford, the Commissioner the next day and was shocked at the news.How?A section of Mahdia Block 174 was part of a bigger block, a medium scale operation, and had been allocated already.GGMC promised to contact her but to date has not done so.According to Serieux, she is puzzled by the fact that GGMC, at the time of her application in October, had not told her that the land had already been allocated.Further,[url=http://www.nfljerseyscheaponline.us@#$%&/]China Jerseys Online[/url], the fact that GGMC allowed another miner to pay after her for the same piece of land is highly questionable.Serieux has complained to Minister of Public Works,[url=http://www.cheapestnfljerseys.us@#$%&/]Jerseys NFL Wholesale[/url], Robeson Benn, a former Commissioner of GGMC, and more recently, Prime Minister Sam Hinds. The matter is also engaging the attention of the recently launched Bartica Mining and Community Development Association (BMCDA).According to one senior mining official,[url=http://www.cheapestnfljerseys.us@#$%&/]Cheap Jerseys From China[/url], GGMC?s record keeping will be called into question as it is highly questionable and improbable how that body could have had so many conflicting issues with one tract of land.On Friday, Kaieteur News had called the office of Commissioner Woolford for a response, but was told by security that he was ?somewhere? in the compound. He did not return the call.Recently, President Bharrat Jagdeo threatened to use the army to clean up ?corruption? at GGMC, which he described as unbelievable.Woolford is quoted in the media as saying that the state-owned entity is prepared to act on reports of corruption, but must be presented with evidence.Minister Benn had reportedly expressed ?surprise? at Woolford?s statements, and had called for ?an urgent review? of GGMC?s leadership.?