Guyana and Canada will cooperate to introduce cyanide leaching technology to improve gold recovery in the medium-scale mining sector here.
An agreement for this was inked yesterday between the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). The partners also agreed to build the Commission’s technical capacity for pre-concentration of gold ore. The signing was done at the Ocean View Convention Centre, Liliendaal in the presence of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, CIDA’s Head of Development Cooperation for Guyana and Suriname, Raymond Drouin, and senior officials and staff of the two agencies, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.
The project which falls under the Guyana Environment Capacity Development (GENCAPD) Phase 2, implemented by GGMC and funded by both agencies has a total cost of CDN$336,000, of which CIDA is contributing CDN$100,000 and GGMC the remainder, GINA said.
The project will see GGMC receiving technical oversight and training for: the creation of a laboratory to be housed at the GGMC’s research and development facility at Linden for safe operation of circuit(s) for ore-concentration and recovery of gold through cyanide leaching and gold recovery for medium-scale mining operations; the safe use, storage, transportation and destruction of cyanide in medium-scale gold mining operations; and the formulation of sound guidelines and standard operating procedures and codes of practice governing the use of cyanide for gold recovery from concentrates in medium-scale mining operations.
GINA reported that Hinds said that GGMC being a part of government stands committed to assisting miners in their exploration for minerals, therefore miners have the responsibility of using the systems that GGMC would have researched, and found to be economic and environmentally friendly to improve their production. He said that this does not shift GGMC’s function; however, they are simply assisting miners with improving the process of exploration.
Drouin stated that the signing of the agreement demonstrates CIDA’s commitment towards GGMC’s efforts at improving the exploration of minerals in Guyana, GINA reported.
