Canadian-owned Guyana Goldfields Inc (GGI) has halted its mining activities at its open pit and satellite pits in Cuyuni/Mazaruni.
In a release yesterday, the GGI announced out of its Toronto, Canada headquarters that mining of Phase 4 at its Rory’s Knoll open pit and satellite pits has now been completed. The company stated that in accordance with its previously announced plan, it will continue to process stockpiles until approximately the end of June and thereafter the mine site will go into care and maintenance.
The company is shifting from open pit mining to underground mining.
GGI informs that the phased reduction of activity and employees is well underway and is expected to be completed over the course of the coming weeks. Meanwhile, it says, a full-time security presence will be maintained at its Aurora, Region Seven site, along with adequate crews to maintain the site, including environmental monitoring and compliance. Infrastructure such as camp, water supply, power supply and other systems will remain operational at a reduced level, the release added.
Hundreds of workers have been laid off in two phases by the large-scale gold miner which began operations here in 2015. The company has recently experienced a series of problems including fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
On June 03 GGI had announced that it was mulling a “superior” buyout offer from an unnamed foreign-based buyer after inking a buyout deal with Canadian-owned mining company, Silvercorp Metals Inc first on April 26 and amending the agreement on May 16. The GGI board had previously rejected a proposal from Gran Colombia Gold Corp on May 13, deeming it as “not in the best interests of the Company or its shareholders.”
GGI’s gold output for the first quarter of this year was 23% less than the corresponding period last year.
In a filing in Canada on April 29 in relation to its annual disclosure documents for 2019 and for the first quarter of 2020, GGI said that gold output totalled 28,100 ounces in the first quarter of 2020, in line with the fourth quarter of 2019 (28,300 ounces) but down 23% from 36,600 ounces in the first quarter of 2019.
