Around 700,000 ounces of gold could be produced next year, according to Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman.
He was delivering the feature address on Friday at the annual awards of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
On the topic of `The challenges and opportunities for extractive industries in a green economy”, Trotman said that this year mining and quarrying grew significantly as a result of a “very dominant performance by gold”, which despite a significant drop in gold prices on the world market and challenges in the mining sector, has seen gold production figures continually rising in 2016.
“Contrary to a misguided belief that it is the two large companies Troy (Resources) and Guyana Goldfields that are solely responsible for this record production, I wish to disabuse the minds of those who have mistakenly fallen victim to this falsehood, by stating that it is the small and medium scale miners who make up almost two-thirds of this production. A total of 550,000 ounces was projected for this year and Guyana has already surpassed this target. I am pleased to announce that Guyana has broken its record for gold production by a significant margin and as at November 30 gold declarations have crested the 600,000 mark”, Trotman said.
Putting this into context, he said it means that even in the days of higher prices, and the presence of Omai Gold Mines Limited, gold never went beyond 465,000 ozs – which was the highest ever recorded production in 2013.
“Next year we hope to edge closer to the 700,000 ozs threshold, and hopefully, surpass it”, he declared.
These figures also point to the fact that gold is an important earner in the Guyanese economy and as such, Trotman said that the Government will continue to support the sector by providing operational concessions to miners and supporting infrastructural works; whilst streamlining operations and systems to ensure higher declarations. In recent months miners have said concessions are a myth and they have painted a bleak picture of the industry’s future.
Trotman acknowledged that challenges
however remain – “be it the loss of life, and limb, illegal mining, or other activities of grave disrepute that continue to plague the industry and dim the light of its tremendous success. “We at the Ministry endeavour to do much more in 2017 to ensure compliance and safe practices for the wellbeing of the thousands of men and women who depend on mining for the development of themselves and families”.
In relation to diamond production and declarations, Trotman said that as of the 3rd Quarter of 2016, the country was 38% ahead of expected targets (61,380), and it has already recorded 99,000 carats.
