The gold and diamond miners association today said it has learnt that a range of concessions to them will be rescinded in the upcoming budget for 2017.
A statement from the GGDMA follows:
The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) is calling on all its members to be prepared to mobilize for strong and decisive action to safeguard their livelihood. The GGDMA has received highly credible information that the current government will be rescinding ALL the concession granted to miners. The Association notes that the Ministry of Finance is expected to make this announcement in his budget speech and will include measures that will result in the removal of:
- ALL VAT waivers,
- ALL concessions for fuel and lubricants,
- ALL concessions for motor vehicles,
- ALL concessions on spares and parts
- ALL concessions on tools and equipment.
- The Non- renewal of the fuel import licenses
This is the ultimate betrayal of the miners by the APNU/AFC government and will only serve to make the already difficult industry harder, if not impossible. The Association is calling on the government to restore the status quo and return ALL the concession granted to Miners under the PPP/C administration. The current government has given no additional help to the industry. They have provided no new concrete concessions and to date they have not put in one single road or other infrastructural work that directly benefits the industry.
The GGDMA notes that the Finance Minister seems to be in direct defiance of the promises made by His Excellency President David Granger to grant the industry several concessions and to which the industry initially received letters of commitments, but NO action. It appears now that the finance Minister has the power of veto over the President’s commitments and the Government is taking a deliberate anti-mining stance.
The gold industry is set to surpass the 600,000 ounces mark this year. Two-thirds of this figure is the direct effort of the small and medium scale miners. We have produced this much gold WITHOUT the concessions or tax breaks the foreign companies enjoy. Given the same concessions as the foreign companies we can produce more than 600,000 ounces by ourselves.
This proposed backward step, to remove all waivers and concessions, will see a significant decline in the production targets next year and many more miners on the breadline. The industry is already suffering and this betrayal is going to kill mining in Guyana. Miners are prepared to take all necessary steps to ensure that the industry survives. We will stand together.
A statement from the Ministry of Natural Resources follows:
The Ministry of Natural Resources would like to set the record straight with regards to a press release from the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association (GGDMA) today November 10, 2016 expressing a number of concerns germane to the granting of concessions in the mining sector.
The Ministry of Natural Resources believes that it is a apposite to note that in latter part of 2015, agreements were signed among the GGDMA, the Guyana Energy Agency and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission regarding a number of exemptions from customs duties on fuel and equipment.
As the period of the agreement-signing would suggest, the agreements were signed under the current administration, contrary to what was said in the press release. Furthermore, the statements: “The current government has given no additional help to the industry. They have provided no new concrete concessions and to date they have not put in one single road or other infrastructural work that directly benefits the industry,” simply have no basis in fact. Further the Ministries of Natural Resources and Public Infrastructure are currently engaged with members of the GGDMA to address the maintenance and opening up of hinterland roads.
We can state also that the Ministry of Finance is currently engaged in discussions regarding these concessions and other forms of support to the mining sector, including reviewing requests for renewal of these concessions.
We urge that the executive of the GGDMA await confirmed information from the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Natural Resources before making inaccurate pronouncements that do no one any good.
The David Granger led Government places immense value on the contribution of mining to the socio-economic well-being of Guyana, and especially hails the contributions of small and medium scale miners. The administration has no intention of turning its back on the miners at this critical time of national development.
