Goldsmiths not purchasing refined gold sold by Gold Board – GM

…“We’re not witch-hunting” – Minister to goldsmiths

…says gold must come from legal source

For the entirety of last year, the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) sold just 383 ounces of gold. This is juxtaposed against the fact that a recent bust at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) netted 240 ounces of gold that were about to be smuggled.
On Tuesday, goldsmiths from across the country gathered at Duke Lodge in Georgetown to meet with the Ministry of Natural Resources and relevant agencies to discuss issues in the sector. One such issue was that enough goldsmiths are not purchasing the refined gold sold by the GGB, as they are legally mandated to do.

At the session, the Gold Board’s General Manager Eondrene Thompson revealed how much gold has been purchased from her agency from 2019 to date – amounts even she admitted were small, compared to the number of jewelers in operation.
“In 2019, we had 497 ounces purchased from the Guyana Gold Board. In 2020 we had 268 ounces. In 2021 we had 460, in 2022 we had 524. And I did not analyse what caused the spike here. In 2023 we had 383. In 2024, as of May 31, we had 178 (ounces).”
“I can dare say, also, we know that it’s really a small amount, compared to the jewelers. If we should assess the jewelers that we have here,” Thompson further said.

Goldsmiths
During his presentation at the Duke Lodge consultation, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat had noted that there are over 100 registered goldsmiths in the country. However, while the law mandates that goldsmiths buy gold from the state, he acknowledged that in some cases goldsmiths work with materials brought by the clients themselves.
“There’s this issue of people bringing gold to you. I’m sure many of you, when you have your chance, what happens when people bring their gold to you? Because we know that is a common practice in Guyana. That people will bring, whether they have old jewelry or jewelry given to them, maybe as gifts from their parents or grandparents. And they bring it to you to remodify or redesign. And then in some cases, people may have other forms of gold that they bring to you.”
“We’re asking that in compliance, you note all these instances and you submit it to us. Or whether we visit you. We set a time frame, maybe quarterly, and we get the information. I don’t think that’s an issue for you either. We and the relevant agencies will deal with it. And the point is that we just want the origin of this gold that you’re using, to come from a legal source. That’s all. That’s the bottom line. We’re not witch hunting or anything else.”
Added to this are plans to import a machine that will allow the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to refine gold to a greater degree for persons to buy. As a matter of fact, GGMC Commissioner Newell Dennison said that most of the components of the machine are already in Guyana, for assembly.
Only recently a bust at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport saw 240 ounces of gold being attempted to be smuggled.
For this month alone several persons were arrested and charged for attempting to smuggle gold out of the country via jewelry.
In one instance, two US citizens and one Guyanese were intercepted with US$560,000 worth of raw gold at the airport at Timehri. The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) reported that customs officers, with the support of officers attached to the Natural Resources Ministry and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), unearthed 240 ounces of pure (raw) gold disguised as silver-plated jewellery on outgoing passengers on an American Airlines’ flight to JFK Airport in New York. The gold was confiscated after the three passengers were unable to produce the required permit and declaration to customs officials.
The three suspects: Ian Jacobis, 44, of Plantation Best, West Coast Demerara, along with US-based Shameena Ahamad, 52, and her 34-year-old daughter Ashiana Salamaly, both of Roraima Scheme, West Bank Demerara, were arraigned in a magistrates’ court and charged for the offence of exporting gold without a licence – in contravention of Section 8 of the Guyana Gold Board Act, Chapter 66:01, and contrary to section 23 (a) of the said Guyana Gold Board Act, Chapter 66:01. They have all been placed on bail.
Then on Tuesday US-based Guyanese businessman Saffee Ahmad was charged with the offence of ‘Exporting Gold Without License’, in contravention of Section 8 of the Guyana Gold Board Act and released on $600,000 bail.
On Friday last a 36-year-old man was arrested at CJIA with over 23 ounces of gold jewelry.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on June 11 sanctioned prominent businessman, Nazar Mohamed and his son, Azruddin Mohamed along with their company, Mohamed’s Enterprise, and former Permanent Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry, Mae Thomas, for their alleged roles in public corruption in Guyana involving gold smuggling. The US Treasury Dept alleged that Mohamed’s Enterprise evaded Guyana’s tax on gold exports and defrauded the Guyanese Government of tax revenues by under declaring their gold exports to Guyanese authorities. Between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise omitted more than 10 thousand kilograms of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than $50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.
The US authorities stated that the company bribed customs officials to falsify import and export documents, as well as to facilitate illicit gold shipments. (G3)