Moderate gold declaration partly due to new business opportunities

Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 January 2025, 23:04 by Writer

Guyana’s gold production for 2024 increased slightly to 434,067 ounces compared to 432,113 ounces in 2023, partly due to the diversification by a number of miners to other economic activities, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat said Tuesday.

“I believe what is produced is declared right now. The thing is a lot of people came out of gold mining,” he told reporters.

He said that, for instance, the Alphonso Family has reduced gold production by as much as 40 percent because they have shifted to other business opportunities such as aviation, shorebase and hotel ownership.

Gold closed on Monday on the London Fix at $2,669.50 per ounce.

Mr Bharrat said total gold revenue for last year was US$989.9 million. “I believe this is an encouraging sign for the sector and for the stakeholders, so much so that we are seeing now that a number of key stakeholders are expanding or restarting their mining operations, and they are also new players entering the sector,” he said.

Authorities this year plan to work with small- and medium-scale miners to increase gold recovery. Official figures show that a number of large-scale producers increased their recovery rate by as much as 95 percent in contrast to 40 or 45 percent by Guyanese miners.

However, local miners have struggled with a 40 to 45 per cent recovery rate, which the government believes can be improved with the right types of investments.

The Minister of Natural Resources was uncertain about whether the closure of Mr Nazar “Shell” Mohamed’s gold dealership as a result of a United States Treasury Department’s sanction for allegedly evading taxes on gold sales had any impact on gold declarations. He, however, noted that the state-owned Guyana Gold Board bought more gold last year. “I don’t know because people would find other channels, legal channels to sell their gold and we can see it in the Guyana Gold Board’s purchases. In 2023, it was like 87,000 (ounces) and in 2024 it was like 140 something thousand (ounces) so there was almost like a 50,000 (ounce) increase in the Guyana Gold Board purchases,” he said.

In recent times, law enforcement agents have arrested United States-bound passengers at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport allegedly with large quantities of raw gold disguised as jewellery. Others, who were allegedly part of the smuggling ring, had been also arrested and charged.