As he presented the 2010 Budget to the National Assembly on Monday, Singh underscored the importance of this sector, which has been under the spotlight recently as miners strenuously oppose a proposal of six months notice before mining can commence, saying it will destroy the industry.
Singh said that government has a longstanding record of working closely with the gold mining sector over the years and support to the industry has included significant investment in hinterland infrastructure and a favourable fiscal regime.
He stated that small and medium scale gold mining exploits small, high grade, near surface occurrences, which are quickly exhausted and which lead operators to relocate regularly.
“Mining activities have increased substantially in recent years, such that we must more formally and explicitly address the environmental and social effects and achieve better alignment with activities of others in the forests, including the timber operators and their needs for certification of the forests and our indigenous people and hinterland communities, all within the framework of the LCDS (Low Carbon Development Strategy),” he stated.
The minister declared that government is well aware of the economic importance of the sector, asserting that while the future will bring with it necessary changes in the manner in which the sector operates, these will not result in the closure of small and medium scale mining nor will they affect people’s right to work and earn.
On the whole, the mining and quarrying sector is expected to grow 4.2% this year. Bauxite is projected to grow 9.1% to 1 620 000 tonnes as the operations of both bauxite companies are expected to be scaled up in response to some expected renewal in demand on the world market for aluminum. On the diamond front, a 4.2% growth is projected.
Singh also spoke on the LCDS and the forest protection agreement signed with the Kingdom of Norway, stating that this year, they have budgeted to receive US$30M from Norway through the Guyana REDD Investment Fund (GRIF).
This, he said, will enable the financing of “critical transformative infrastructure, low carbon small business initiatives, the cost of land demarcation and land titling for indigenous communities and the work of the Office of Climate Change.”
He said that government is currently negotiating and will shortly conclude an appropriate financing mechanism for the management of earnings from the deployment of the country’s forests.
The Guyana-Norway agreement is expected to result in US$250M by 2015 in performance-based payments.
