Guyana Goldfields establishes single country office

…as part of restructuring plan

Guyana Goldfields Inc has announced plans to restructure its local office here and as part of that plan, employ and promote more Guyanese to key management positions.

The company said that the restructuring programme was launched on July 30, 2018, and since then they have promoted 60 Guyanese into senior roles.
The move, according to Guyana Goldfields Inc, is aimed at increasing the company’s operational efficiencies and further strengthening its presence in Guyana.
Aside from that, due to the restructuring plan, the company has reduced its expatriate workforce by 14, representing approximately 30 per cent of the total expatriate staff.
This, therefore, means that the total employment post-restructuring consists of 729 Guyanese (representing approximately 96.4 per cent of the overall workforce) and 27 expatriates.
President and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Scott Caldwell said, “These restructuring efforts complement recent initiatives undertaken to strengthen the management team, refocus exploration efforts and advance corporate governance.”
Caldwell said too that these transformational changes which are consistent with its Aurora Gold Mine strategic plan established last summer will strengthen their presence in Guyana.
Non-Executive Chairman René Marion said that the company remains focused on a continuous improvement process that the Board initiated in the second half of 2018.
“The process started on July 30, 2018, with the termination of the Company’s Executive Chairman, Patrick Sheridan, and the elimination of an ineffective dual reporting structure under which Mr Sheridan was responsible for Government relations and exploration in Guyana.”
As part of the restructuring efforts to focus on brownfields exploration, the seven expatriate geologists were replaced with 2 new expatriate hires.
The remaining 32 members of the exploration team are Guyanese, in keeping with the Company’s commitment to source skilled local employees.
The team consists of seven geologists, one data technician, 12 core technicians, and 14 drill contractors. For the 2019 campaign, the Company expects to hire an additional three geologists, sex technicians and two data clerks.

Single country office
The company noted also that all of Guyana Goldfields’ and Aurora Gold Mine’s activities in Georgetown will be managed out of a single office in the country, which will increase synergies and efficiencies while reducing costs. The North Road, Georgetown location will be closed.
As part of the restructuring, Country Manager Violet Smith is also expected to leave the company, as her position has become redundant.
It was also restated that former United States Ambassador to Guyana Perry Holloway has been appointed Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Affairs.
Holloway has assumed responsibility for all activities involving Government relations in Guyana, as well as corporate social responsibility. “He will also provide assistance on key in-country management issues as needed,” the company added in a statement.
During the second half of 2018, management made a strategic decision which resulted in the net reduction in the total exploration team of 45 employees, who have been placed on care and maintenance. The company intends to resume its Greenfields exploration in the first half of 2019.
In its last performance review – 2018 third quarter operational and financial results in October – Guyana Goldfields reported its gold production guidance was revised downward to 150,000 – 55,000 ounces as grades have not rebounded as quickly as anticipated in the fourth quarter.
This represents a reduction from the previous range of 175,000 -185,000 ounces of gold. Consequently, cost of sales was also revised to US$1030 – US$1055 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of US$1025 – US$1050 per ounce, and cash cost (before royalty) of US$660 – US$685 per ounce for the year. Meanwhile, back in August, the Canadian mining company confirmed its intentions of laying off approximately 80 local workers in a bid to consolidate its operations.
Earlier this month, a group of concerned shareholders of Goldfields Inc had called for a shakeup of the company’s leadership over claims of poor performance and declining stock prices. The group had called for an urgent meeting between themselves and the company. That meeting has since been set for May 22, 2019.
The shareholders, who together own not less than five per cent of the issued and outstanding shares of the company, had announced that they had requisitioned the meeting for the purpose of reconstituting the entire Board with new, experienced, accountable and qualified directors capable of fixing performance issues, leading a share price recovery and executing a value-maximising transaction.
In a statement to the media, the shareholders had noted that the meeting was urgently needed to halt dramatic value-destruction and improve the company’s performance.
Moreover, the shareholders had warned the Guyana Goldfields’ Board of Directors to refrain from self-serving or defensive actions that are detrimental to shareholders’ rights.
It was noted that the concerned shareholders have formally written the Toronto Stock Exchange, asking the body to monitor any proposal made by Guyana Goldfields for signs of entrenchment, shareholder dilution or attempts to structure around regulatory shareholder approval requirements.