The Guyana Gold Board (GCB) has no role to play in collecting royalties from large-scale gold mining companies and this was made clear in the agreements the companies signed with respective governments and highlighted by it to the Ministry of Finance back in 2019, former head of the agency, GHK Lall, says.
With both governments knowing that these companies export their own gold and do not sell to the GGB, it is shameless for the current administration to try to lay the blame of non-collection of over $2 billion in royalties by Australian gold mining company, Troy Resources, on the agency, Lall contends.
“In 2014, a mineral agreement was signed… regarding Troy Resources. In that October 2014 agreement/contract, there was absolutely no mention of the Guyana Gold Board and it having any responsibilities for collection of royalties, revenues or any such monies. More importantly in that mineral agreement, there is very specific language that says that Troy Resources will deposit into the Bank of Guyana account in the Federal Reserve in New York, monies due to this country as royalties,” Lall who served in capacity as the Head of the Gold Board up to 2019, told the Stabroek News in an interview.
“The only role the Guyana Gold Board has had prior to me being there has been when Troy Resources informs the appropriate people that there is an export package shipment due… And if I remember well, they will fly the appropriate staff in and along with others… there would be an inspection, weighing, sealing, and signing off on that package for export. That is what the Guyana Gold Board did during my time, not only for Troy but for the other large companies that export gold,” he added. Lall said that with that mineral agreement as the context and as the authority, it is, in his mind, “mischievous for anyone to speak to the Guyana Gold Board” being responsible for the large sums owed by Troy.
“If they want to talk about the PNC and who lapsed and what’s not, then that is their business”, Lall said.
Government has said that that the GGB at one time in 2019, had advised the government to suspend Troy from exporting gold because the company had outstanding royalties to be paid.
“It is important to note that despite the Guyana Gold Board’s (GGB) disapproval and the suspension of TRGI’s exports due to outstanding royalties owed, the Ministry of Finance in 2019, under the former APNU+AFC administration took the decision to override the GGB export restrictions and thus TRGI was allowed to resume exports, hence the royalties owed to the GoG,” a release from government on Monday had stated.
Reflecting on his tenure, Lall explained that at one time there seemed to be a mix up at the Gold Board about whose responsibility it was for collecting respective monies and he had taken it upon himself to write the Ministry of Finance to lay out that his agency was not responsible for collecting royalties.
“The Manager of the GGB and other management can tell you… they were getting pressure… about who is supposed to collect and who was supposed to do this and that; the normal bureaucratic thing. The word was made very clear to the Ministry of Finance and to the Permanent Secretary who still is the Permanent Secretary today, that the Guyana Gold Board has no role in the collection of royalties paid by any one of these foreign arrangements made by the GGMC (Guyana Geology and Mines Commission) and the Office of the Prime Minister. We have no such directions; we have no such involvement in that,” he stressed.
“The Guyana Gold Board took it upon itself, during my time, to inform the Ministry of Finance where things stood. As to whether the Bank of Guyana was part of those conversations, I was not a party to those,” he added.
He said those discussions involved the General Manager of the GGB and the appropriate personnel at the Ministry of Finance, but he specifically remembers “the Director of Budget was a lady by the name of (Sonya) Roopauth.”
From those discussions, he said that the Ministry of Finance itself had created a document making it clear that the GGB was not responsible for collection.
“If I remember right, there was a writing from the Ministry of Finance saying that Gold Board has no role in this, to that effect,” he said.
“I can tell you, I wrote the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources, and told Mr. (Raphael) Trotman we have nothing to do with this, we have no instruments to this effect and were not part of it,” he explained.
Lall said that he thinks the current government’s action is “mischievous.”
“I think it is mischievous to say the GGB was lax when it never collected a penny of royalties from Troy Resources. Three years later, after 2020, for this to come up when the amount was lesser then and to now say that this is somebody’s problem, from then to now, I think is mischievous. It is malicious and a distortion of the highest order,” he stressed.
“I have no issue with people saying you fell down on the job or that you made a mistake or whatever. But to fabricate things of this nature is just shameless and highly unacceptable and speaks ill of how we do things in this country,” he added.
He said that what should not be shielded is the fact that the money is owed. “The issue is very real. The monies are owed and Troy is gone. It is the fabrication to put that on the head of the Guyana Gold Board,” he said.
Hogwash
Stabroek News on Friday reached out to former Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman.
“There was tension between GGB and BoG/MoF. At one time MoF presented a case for the GGB’s closure. We fought back, but lost some authority,” he said.
“Ultimately, the incumbents had 3+ years to reverse the policy/decision, but chose to leave it in place. At one point in time, it may have been expedient, but when it stopped being, and there were unmistakable signs that Troy was in trouble and collapsing, sterner and different measures should have been introduced including, a reversal of the MoF’s decision,” he added
On his Twitter Page, he had also rubbished government’s statement saying that it should also be held accountable for allowing three years to pass without holding Troy in check.
“This is hogwash! Real issue is why for 3-plus years an erroneous coalition policy was kept in place. A weak attempt to explain PPP’s continued failure,” Trotman said.
This newspaper also reached out to Former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, who said he could not remember receiving advice on the Troy issue and that he was responsible for policy decisions.
Jordan questioned government’s own laxity for allowing three years to pass without querying on the over $2 billion in royalties owed to this country by the Australian mining company and only now that the company has left, is checking and casting blame.
“When I read that statement, it didn’t make any sense to me. From this standpoint only – if you are saying that Troy Resources owed the government royalties… how will somebody – the Gold Board or whomever – advise the government to stop the export of Troy gold and still tell them they got to pay us the royalty? How does the two go together? It can’t! You can’t pay us if that was the advice that was tendered. How will they pay us?
“When I read the statement I laughed, because if the Gold Board tendered such an advice to a ministry, at the policy level, as the Minister of Finance it is just that – an advice and not a decision. It won’t be a decision for the Gold Board to make, it is a policy decision and only a minister could make such a decision. When you stop the export, you are shutting down the company,” he added.
Asked about the specific advice which Lall said he made, Jordan said that he would not answer to anything Lall had not put in the public domain but that, “I don’t recall such an advice.”
He said that what he remembers is that Troy Resources was shut down when an employee died from a pit caving in. “They [Troy] retrenched all the workers.”
Jordan remained adamant that he knew of no advice about withholding Troy’s export or the amounts owed in royalties by the company, and as such he did not wish to be blamed for it.
On Monday night, government announced that the agreement with the Australian gold mining company had been cancelled with swift action taken to secure the Region Seven mining site.
The announcement followed a report the day before in the Stabroek News that Troy Resources appeared to have abandoned its Guyana operations without abiding by the terms of its agreement and for the reclamation of the area which was mined at Karouni since 2015.
In a statement at around 10 pm on Monday, the Ministry of Natural Resources stated that in light of Troy Resources Guyana Inc’s failure to remedy its default concerning several matters, inclusive of the outstanding royalties, rental fees, non-compliance with the work programme, and matters relating to environmental management, the government has taken necessary actions.
“The Karouni Mineral Agreement issued to Troy Resources Guyana Inc. (TRGI), Troy Resources Limited and Pharsalus Gold Inc., and the Mining Licence are now both cancelled and terminated,” the statement said.
It gave a timeline for the key facts surrounding Troy’s presence here
● On October 16, 2014, the GoG entered into a Mineral Agreement with TRGI and other stakeholders, which centred on the development and operation of a mining project at the Karouni property.
● TRGI commenced operations with the first gold poured in November 2015.
● After a few years of mining operations TRGI reportedly encountered “operational issues and required organisational restructuring.”
● TRGI went into “care and maintenance” in early 2021 and despite commitments to resume its operations, the company failed to do so and even approached the government with proposals to liquidate its assets. This was rejected for several reasons including the fact that the payment of outstanding sums was not being addressed promptly under the proposal. However, the GoG remained engaged with a view to have mining restarted and outstanding debts settled.
● TRGI owes the government in excess of $2.6 billion in unpaid royalties. This substantial financial liability, coupled with other concerns, has led to the cancellation of the licence. The Office of the Attorney General has taken the necessary steps to have these sums paid.
Directly
Sources told the Stabroek News that the Guyana Gold Board only collected processing fees from Troy. “Troy paid its royalties directly to BOG,” one source said.
This newspaper understands that the GGB had done a reconciliation and found a huge backlog of unpaid royalties and had notified the then APNU+AFC government.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said Troy Resources has assets in Georgetown and government is looking to find those to levy on them, as it explores all avenues to recover the over $2.6 billion of debt the company owes this country.
This was echoed by Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, who on Friday told this newspaper that government has a plan for dealing with the company and includes not only taking back control of the site but will endeavour to find the company’s remaining assets here. It will also find legal avenues in Troy’s home country to recoup monies owed to the government.
The Australian public company which was registered at home with ABN (Australian Business Number) 33 006 243 750 in 2000, has not had any updated activity on its website.
However, on the Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s website, it states that the company had on September 23rd of this year filed a disclosure notice.
