The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) have implemented a new monitoring, billing and royalty payment system for sand pit operations.
The introduction of the system, for which consultations were undertaken earlier in the year, is intended to improve monitoring of the sector in light of its contribution to national revenue generation, the ministry said in a media release.
Under the old system, sand pit owners/operators declared production records to the GGMC, royalties were paid based on these declarations and quarterly surveys of sandpits were done to verify the declarations.
The new monitoring, billing and royalty system, which was approved by the GGMC Board of Directors, was implemented in September.
Under the new system, all sand pit operators/owners are required to purchase “Conveyance Books” from the GGMC. At the point of selling sand to truckers, they must complete a Conveyance Slip in triplicate, stating the tonnage of sand sold and the name of the pit extracted from; provide the original to the truck driver, keep the duplicate for personal record sand retain the triplicate