Dear Editor,
The Management of Guyana Goldfields refers to an article appearing in the Kaie-teur News edition of Tuesday, May 18, 2021, titled “Secret contract exposed… Chinese company pays G$1,000 rent per acre for Guyana’s largest gold claim”. The management is not surprised as it is a norm for this publication to misrepresent normal transactions to appear illicit as a means of sensationalizing the news for attention. Management would like to reiterate that all contracts and transactions relative to the Mineral Agreement, the attendant Mineral Licenses, and every associated matter of the company is available in the public domain. In keeping with the Mineral Agreement, there are set reporting obligations which must be adhere to Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly. As such, regulatory and compliance agencies are given all reports, both Operational and Financial. Therefore, Management would like to inform all stakeholders and members of the public there is NO Secret as the Kaieteur News article imagined. The Mineral Agreement was comprehensively scrutinized and the conditions granted were not unusual to those granted to others involved in same and similar mining activities. Kaieteur News attempted to portray that the acreage fee paid by AGM Inc. ZiJin on the property was meager, but failed to ignore the fact that this price was not only granted to Guyana Goldfields Inc., but same was offered to all investors desirous of making significant investment in the development of large scale Mining Properties in Guyana. The publication deliberately ignored the principles of investigative journalism, hence, failed to establish the fact that the price is granted across the board to all such miners or large-scale investment companies. The Management of AGM INC. ZiJin would like to debunk the misinformation by the tabloid-style Kaieteur News publication and state the following:
Local Content
Fact 1: More than 800 Local employees were terminated by the previous management team before it went into Care and Maintenance and on resumption of operations with the acquisition of the new owners in August 2020, more than 800 local employees were hired to restart operations and Mining. To date, the Company continues to be one of the largest employers in the country during this period of the Pandemic, with strict adherence to the COVID-19 Guidelines.
Fact 2: Guyana Goldfields, as a policy decision, encouraged and cultivated local entrepreneurship where hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses were offered opportunities to either be suppliers of services or suppliers of products. This was evident when the company introduced its inward Suppliers Trade Fair. The new management team and the owner continues to work with an overwhelming number of Guyanese-owned businesses to enhance local capacity.
Fact 3: The Company maintains more than 170 km of roads from Buck Hall to the Cuyuni River which is connected to Aurora. These Roads are used extensively by hundreds of hinterland residents, miners and loggers to access their properties.
Tax and Royalty
Fact 4: The Company continues to be a serious adherent to all Governing Laws and Regulations and Policies relative to its operations in Guyana. Manage-ment is please to state that payment of Royalties, Income Taxes, and National Insurance (NIS) are all current.
Fact 5: Since the advent of the new owners, Zijin Mining have been able to accelerate the mine from Care and Maintenance into production within three months after taking over, which enhanced local livelihoods and create opportunities for suppliers on the coastland.
Fact 6: Unlike the Kaieteur News’ misinformed article, the company has not commenced underground Mining activities. The company was permitted, in late 2018, to commence development work on the underground mine. These are the preliminary preparatory works that incidentally can take as long as 18 to 30 months before any form of mining activity can commence. This is to ensure the company is compliant with all environmental and sustainable mining guidelines for developing an underground mine of such nature. Hopefully, this can clarify the misconceptions propagated by Kaieteur News. The company continues the process to get approval for underground mining.
Additionally, the Management of Guyana Gold-fields would like to point out that Underground Mining is relatively new to Guyana and will entail the recruitment of more skilled underground miners and it is anticipated that an additional 150 Guyanese employees will be recruited in this process for training and exposure to this aspect of mining. Meanwhile, the company anticipates an increase in production output and the Government and People of Guyana will benefit from an increased contribution in royalty and taxes, as well as business opportunities.
Sincerely,
Peter Benny
Director of Corporate Office, Compliance, and
Government Relations
Guyana Goldfields
