Close to US$180M will be spent in the near term by Canadian companies holding licences to mine gold here, according to Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud.
Persaud recently participated in the Toronto Mining Conference where Guyana was highlighted. Several Canadian companies such as Guyana Goldfields are involved in large mining operations here. A number of other companies have expressed interest in Guyana, Persaud told Stabroek News. In addition, he said, interest was expressed in mining for rare earth and trace metals as well as petroleum. “New companies are interested in coming,” the minister said.
Persaud said that he also met with financiers of the mining companies operating here and was told that US$180M is currently being invested in the various operations and they committed to build on this over time. The Guyana team, in collaboration with the High Commission of Canada, held its first mining seminar in Toronto at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Conference and Exhibition last Sunday.
During meetings with the interested companies, Persaud said that the need for new technology to, for example, operate in an environmentally friendly manner was emphasized.
Meanwhile, he noted that a group has approached the ministry about the setting up of an oil refinery here. This proposal is in the preliminary stage. In addition, a local consortium has submitted a preliminary proposal to set up a gold refinery. More details are needed and the consortium is preparing a full proposal, the minister said.
The mining sector in Guyana is booming given the high gold prices worldwide. Several Canadian companies are among those that are opening large scale gold operations including the first underground mine in the Guiana Shield.
Tomorrow the Guyana Geology and Mines Commis-sion (GGMC) will host a lottery for 360 mining lots. “Sixty mining parcels in the six mining districts countrywide…which means that 360 special mining permits will be available to potential inves-tors at an exercise which will be conducted on March 13,” Persaud had told the media.
He said that persons have until today to visit the GGMC or make contact with the various mining stations for copies of the lottery maps to find out where the lots are available.“This lottery is done to ensure that there is a very open system and not any individual or the minister is sitting down awarding permits…this is an attested permit,” he said.
GGMC’s Commissioner Karen Livan has said that the parcels are not new parcels but they would have been reserved for one reason or the other and are now being made available.
