Guyana poised to reverse slump in gold declaration, amid opposition concerns – Natural Resources Minister

Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 January 2024, 20:39 by Denis Chabrol

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat on Tuesday said he was very confident that Guyana would recover from a seven-year decline in gold production with new the discovery of deposits by several foreign exploration companies, even as preparations have started for a more than GY$400 million mineral survey this year to assist in efficient allocation of gold bearing areas.

Mr Bharrat said “I’m not worried” because “extensive exploration” for gold was underway in Marudi, Omai, Oko West, Eagle Mountain and Toraparu. “These are foreign investors that hold exploration licence and they have already discovered significant deposits of gold,” he said.

Mr Bharrat also announced that a costly mineral survey would be conducted this year,  amid concerns by the opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) about a slump in gold production for several years now.

“It is a start t0 do that mineral survey so that now we can allocate blocks and claims in a more informed manner. In the same way we can do it with the forest inventory, today we are starting the mineral inventory so that we can allocate blocks in a more informed way, thereby, Mr Speaker, protecting our forests and keeping our deforestation low,” he told the National Assembly.

Government also expects that gold declarations will bounce back because an existing large scale gold miner will for the first time in Guyana’s history conduct underground mining.

Mr Bharrat admitted that APNU+AFC Shadow Minister of Natural Resources, Shurwayne Holder correctly told the National Assembly during debate on the 2024 National Budget that there had been a drop in declaration of the precious yellow metal dating back t0 2017.

Also in an effort to trigger an increase in gold production, the Natural Resources Minister said government was looking for ways to incentivise small and medium scale miners as has been the case in the allocation of claims in the Troy Resources area to 82 local miners. Government, he added, would also be regularising mining in Amerindian communities.

The Minister reflected that gold production last peaked in 2017 due to the declarations by the Aurora Gold  Mines as well as the Australia-headquartered Troy Resources Limited that has since packed up and left behind billions in owed taxes to Guyana. “Mainly because of their contributions to our production, we peaked in 2016 and since then we’ve been on the decline,” he said. Other reasons given by the minister for the drop in gold declaration is a shortage of labour in the “gold bush” as more people prefer to work on the coastland where they are earning the same salary; severe flooding on 2021-2022 and drought in 2023, and depleted resources.

Shadow Natural Resources Minister Holder said from the large-scale gold miners, production has dropped from around 186,000 ounces in 2019 to around 109,000 ounces in 2023, a decline of 70 percent. He noted over the the last four years,  the gold industry has experienced a 50 percent drop in declaration from our local small to medium scale miners.

He said several reasons have been offered for this dismal performance, despite the fact that gold prices on the world market have remained relatively high, ranging from over US$1,600/oz to over US$2,300/oz over the last four years.

Mr Holder also remarked that in general, local small and medium-scale gold miners have pointed to waning government enthusiasm in the industry since the advent of oil production. “In fact, the new President of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) had cause to declare in his acceptance speech last year that “gold mining is like the good wife, we must not be distracted by this new “girl” called oil and gas”, he said.

The Shadow Minister also observed that the industry is plagued by increased illegal mining, increased raiding of gold operations, increased illegal buying and selling of gold, and increased smuggling. “What all this means, Mr Speaker, is that the gap between actual production from local miners and gold declaration continues to widen.  The illegal trade in gold is not only rampant in the mining districts, but also prevalent in our very capital city, Georgetown,” he added.

Mr Holder recommended that government needs to urgently increase both the availability of and accessibility to new mining lands. This requires the government to find new areas of gold mineralization and build new access roads. In so doing, he said the government must ensure that gold miners at all scales can have access to these opportunities, and not just the privileged, land rights of  Indigenous People are respected, and environment and biodiversity are protected.