Miners yesterday gave the executives of their association a month to get government to honour promises made since early this year to grant concessions to cope with the drop in gold prices which, along with other factors, has caused declarations to fall.
The 20% drop in declarations for the first five months of this year has caused alarm due to the importance of gold to the economy. Up to June 21, declarations stood at 194 000 ounces with the figure being 234 000 ounces up to the same point last year. Yesterday, in a sometimes raucous meeting at the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) North Road headquarters, miners said that government is yet to make good on several promises made earlier this year during a meeting between them and President Donald Ramotar and charged the GGDMA executive to ensure that the authorities fulfill the promises made.
“No more promises,” one declared, to cheers from the others even as President of the GGDMA Patrick Harding lamented that several promises remained unfulfilled and called on government to keep its commitments. “Six months down, we had a meeting, nothing happened,” GGDMA executive Afro Alphonso said. After the issue was