Alphonsos, Azruddin Mohamed in row over gold mining rights at quarry concession

Last Updated on Saturday, 20 June 2026, 15:38 by Denis Chabrol

In the wake of a formal report by Azruddin Mohamed that the Alphonso family has deployed equipment to mine for gold on his quarry concession in Itaballi, Mazaruni, Alphonso Mining on Saturday said it obtained the legal right to dig for gold on that same property.

The family-owned gold mining company said

Alphonso Mining rejected “all false claims”  that they do not have authority over the land as the business has been paying and maintaining its legal rights to the precious minerals located within those lands for the last 12 years. 

“Alfro Alphonso & Sons legally acquired the subsurface rights to the gold and diamonds within the lands, being referred to in the social media posts, in 2014 via an open and competitive public auction and paid in full, all fees necessary to carry out gold and diamond mining activities on the said land. Alphonso Mining has every legal right to operate there. The quarry licence granted to Hadi’s World did not extinguish the mining rights of Alfro Alphonso and Sons held under a pre-existing licence,” Alphonso Mining said in a statement.

Alphonso Mining said it would take legal action for the “false and deliberately damaging statements” shared by a social media page connected” with Mr Mohamed.

And natural resources minister Vickram Bharrat said a team was dispatched to the area.

“A report was made and GGMC (Guyana Geology and Mines Commission) is investigating the matter, including sending in a team today to do a physical check,” Mr Bharrat told Demerara Waves Online News.

The minister also said checks were being made to determine if a mining permit exists for the same property.

Mr Bharrat said it is “permissible by law to have mineral rights and separately rights to quarry materials.”

When contacted for further details on his allegation that the government had allowed the Alphonsos to “invade Mohamed’s quarry and conduct illegal gold mining operations,” Mr Mohamed told Demerara Waves Online News that that he is aware that under the rules, mineral and quarry rights are separate but he did not know that anyone was granted mineral rights to his quarry concession.

“I am not aware of anyone having mineral rights. How all of a sudden persons have mineral rights?” he said.

Mr Mohamed said after the quarry licence was issued on June14, 2021, his company, Hadi’s World Inc; had invested almost US$25 million in dredging the channel of the Mazaruni River to bring in the barges because the area was shallow.

Since the United States (US) Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on him and his father in June 2024, the younger Mohamed said he was unable to produce quarry products because the licensed importer for explosives had refused to receive his payments on behalf of the American supplier.

Mr Mohamed also said the GGMC had also refused to take future concession payments for the area because of the US sanctions allegedly for financial crimes linked to him and his father’s gold export business.

They have since been indicted by a US federal grand jury and are fighting extradition proceedings in a Guyanese court.

He noted that the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Attorney General’s Chambers had ironically accepted payments from him.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Mr Mohamed said a few weeks ago, a number of small miners, including Indigenous Amerindians, were mining unknowingly on the lands belonging to the Mohameds in the Mazaruni area.

Asked why he did not summon the GGMC and the Ministry of Natural Resources, Mr Mohamed said he did not know before.

He explained that after his company could not have acquired explosives, the machinery was moved out, leaving behind unprotected infrastructure after which the small miners moved in.

“After the task force went in, then is when we were made aware that they’re working there and after that, the guys from Itaballi said they would look over for me and let me know if anyone moves on (to) the land. After then, we know that gold is on the land. I told them to look over the land,” he said.

In response, he said a 50-member task force of armed personnel from various agencies, including the GGMC, Guyana Police Force, Guyana Defence Force and the natural resources ministry, was sent by the PPP administration to arrest and detain the small miners and place them before the courts.

Alphonso Mining on Saturday called on the GGMC and other relevant authorities to investigate who, if anyone, gave support to or funded the raiders and who bought the gold illegally mined from the area. “These are the real questions that deserve answers.”

Mr Mohamed, who is leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party and Guyana’s Opposition Leader, feared that mining equipment that would be used by the Alphonsos would result in pollution of the river and their farmlands.

Mr Mohamed was a one-time partner in NRG Holdings that includes members of the Alphonso and Deygoo-Boyer family in the construction of the Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase. After news broke of the Mohameds possibly facing US sanctions, Hadi’s World eventually pulled out. The US$300 million Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase is contracted by ExxonMobil to support its offshore production at the Yellowtail oilfield.

The US Treasury Department’s OFAC prohibits Americans and American companies from doing business with sanctioned persons and entities.