Guyana Goldfields Inc is to sever between 200 to 300 employees as it faces a range of challenges including financing, regulatory approval of a mining plan and the impact of COVID-19, sources say.
President and Chief Executive Officer Alan Pangbourne made the announcement without giving the total number of employees to be laid off. He assured that the provisions of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act will apply,
The announcement comes days after Canadian silver miner, Silvercorp took over the company.
A portion of Pangbourne’s statement to workers follows:
Today, with great regret I am writing to all employees to inform you that we will be reducing the size of AGM’s workforce. This reduction in the workforce will take place at all levels including both national and expatriate employees as the company will transition its mining operation into a state of Care and Maintenance for an undetermined period. The reason our timeline is undetermined is because it depends on multiple variable factors. These factors include financial conditions, COVID-19 issues, travel restrictions, and pending approval from Guyana’s EPA of our Revised Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) permit for underground mining. Let me share with you the details of how we arrived at this difficult decision.
The upcoming changes are primarily due to the following reasons:
– Our inability to mine safely both RK5 & RK4 concurrently
– An anticipated ore shortage from our open pits resulting in a loss of our income stream,
– Lack of funding to recommence RK5 and re-establish continuous ore supply, and
– The continued negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which forced us to stop underground development.
