– for 1st quarter 2017
The Natural Resources Ministry could be moving along its projected path to see an overall gold declaration of 700,000 ounces this year, as already some 163,000 ounces has been declared for the first quarter.
This is according to Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman, who, speaking recently in Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) about the works of his Ministry, revealed that 163,000 ounces of gold has been declared for the first quarter of 2017.
According to Trotman, the 2017 budget has set the target of 694,000 ounces of gold, but the Ministry is aiming for 700,000 ounces.
Last year’s unprecedented declaration earned the country US$730,915,229. The country recorded the highest gold declaration with 713,000 ounces. Small and medium-scale miners accounted for some 70 per cent, while Guyana Goldfields and Troy Resources, large gold-mining operations, contributed the remainder.
The Guyana Gold Board recorded 451,490 ounces of gold in 2015, surpassing the 380,000 ounces targeted.
In December last year, Trotman said his Ministry would be aiming for 700,000 ounces in gold declarations for this year. He said the Government was looking forward to all miners producing and declaring high numbers in 2017, and pledged to continue to support the industry.
According to him, back in 2016, the Finance Ministry had projected a gold declaration target of 550,000 ounces, an increase of 21.8 per cent over the previous year’s target. However, the Ministry, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Gold Board (GGB), privately worked towards a different target, which was 650,000 ounces.
“As announced in the National Assembly recently, we surpassed that target. Today, I am ecstatic to announce that declarations stand at an unprecedented and whopping 690,000, the highest gold declaration figure in any calendar year in the history of gold mining in Guyana,” Minister Trotman declared.
