Government has approved duty and tax-free concessions for equipment and other goods to be brought into the country by the Australian gold mining company Troy Resources Limited for its Karouni Gold Project.
The Investment Development Agreement (IDA) was signed by Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, on April 25, Troy Resources said in a statement. “Execution of this IDA allows the company’s Guyanese operating subsidiaries to import duty and tax free the majority of the capital equipment required to be sourced offshore for the Karouni Project, as well as goods required to support its ongoing exploration program,” the statement said. The first major item to be imported under the IDA is the 3.2 MW grinding mill plus ancillary equipment which is scheduled to arrive in Guyana in mid-May.
The statement said that Troy acknowledges the continuing strong support and commitment of the Government of Guyana and its agencies in its efforts to fast track the development of the Karouni Gold Project.
“We are extremely pleased to have signed this agreement, which Troy required to enable it to make the investment in the new Karouni gold mine. With funding in place and all major long lead items ordered, the Company is confident that Karouni will be the first of the new large gold mines coming into production in Guyana over coming years,” the company’s Managing Director Paul Benson was quoted as saying.
“Karouni will have a major beneficial impact on the economy of Guyana through the creation of jobs and payments of taxes and royalties.
In particular, we would like to acknowledge the very strong support received to date from the Government of Guyana and the different agencies and look forward to their continued assistance in bringing the mine into early production,” he added.
Troy Resources Guyana Limited has proposed a medium-scale gold mine designed to produce up to 110,000 ounces of gold per annum based on an average overall recovery of 92% at the Black Water Creek, Kaburi Area, in Region Seven.
The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for environmental authorization of the Karouni project is currently being done.
Troy Resources requires a new mining licence for the operation and one of the mandatory requirements is the conduct and submission of a feasibility study which must include an ESIA for approval by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
The mine will be focused on the recovery of ore for processing from Smarts and Hicks gold deposits.
The project components include an open cut mine, processing plant, tailings storage facility, mine site accommodation and additional infrastructure required to recover and to process ore for the recovery of gold.
Development and operation of the mine site will involve several distinct phases including the relocation and resettlement of the community at 14 Mile Issano, construction of mine site infrastructure and upgrading of the mine site access road, construction of a process plant and the staged construction of a tailings storage facility.
The company has said that 500 persons are likely to be employed during construction and over US$15 million has already been directly committed for the building of the mine.
The total construction budget is approximately US$87 million and the construction phase is likely to see about 500 people on site reducing to a permanent work force of 250-300, it had said.
The expected impact on the Guyana economy is large in terms of direct taxes, royalties and knock-on effects from local purchases of goods and services both by the company and the employees, the company has said.
The Karouni project in Guyana hosts a known resource of 16.7 million tonnes at 3.1 grams per tonne gold for 1.65 million ounces.
