As the gold mining sector seemingly drifts further outside state control, GGDMA presses government to ‘raise its game’

Even as the smuggling of gold out of Guyana attracts enhanced public attention following recent disclosures regarding the illegal movement of the precious metal to the United States, the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association [GGDMA] has weighed in with a statement on the issue in which it tags the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission [GGMC], the state agency responsible for the administration of the sector, as being significantly deficient in its responsibility to curb the practice. A terse media release from the GGDMA late last month broke with the ‘diplomacy’ that is often associated with public pronouncements on gold-smuggling, pointedly suggesting that the state entity charged with administering the gold sector, including serving as a watchdog for the state’s interests therein, is part of the problem and therefore, in the current circumstances, is ill-equipped to be part of the solution.