Exposure to international events that focus on current developments in the global gold-mining industry can help accelerate the growth of Guyana’s own mining sector particularly through the acquisition of technology and investment, Minister in the Ministry of Natural Resources Simona Broomes has told the Stabroek Business.
Days after she returned from heading a four-member Guyana delegation to the China Mining Congress and Expo 2016 held in Tianjin, China during the period September 22 – 25, Broomes said she believed there could be “great benefit” to be derived from strengthening links between the gold-mining sectors of Guyana and China from both government to government and private sector perspectives.
“The opportunities are clearly there. There is no mistaking that. There is investment potential and there is the potential for technology transfer to the mining sector here. What may also be possible between ourselves and the Chinese is the opening up of training-related attachments in China for some of our people at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC),” she said.
Broomes disclosed, meanwhile, that her own official report on the China Conference and Expo, made particular reference to the focus on green mining that was “part of the conversation” during the deliberations. “I found it interesting that the focus among the Chinese sector leaders on green mining coincided with the national discourse on a green economy which our President has been leading. I believe that this too is an area in which we can compare notes with the Chinese and explore possibilities for the greening of our local gold-mining sector,” she said.
Broomes added that her bilateral engagements with other delegations attending the Congress and Expo would have added value to the benefits which Guyana derived from the forum. A release assessing the outcomes of the China visit alluded to the fact that the event “attracted delegations from the mining industry across several regions, affording the Guyana delegation the opportunity to engage various country representatives on issues of mining and mining technology. In this regard there may well be prospects for further bilateral engagements with those countries which Guyana needs to explore.” The minister said she had alluded to these possibilities in a report submitted to Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman.
Broomes said the bilateral discussions with other delegations in China had persuaded her that Guyana was beginning to capture the attention of the international community “for the right reasons.” In the post-Congress release, Broomes stated that “the… bilateral engagements with other delegations at the Congress and Expo strongly suggest that there is an increasing global awareness of Guyana as both a gold producing country and as a future oil producing nation. There is scope for the accelerated promotion of Guyana across the regions of the world in order to accelerate bilateral and multilateral cooperation in these areas.”
Broomes said she had noted particularly “the significant number of female entrepreneurs in the Chinese technology, mining and energy sectors who participated in the Congress and Expo.” She said that arising out of her exchanges with them she had been persuaded that Guyanese women can yet play a more prominent ownership role in the local mining industry.
