Int’l mining companies promise large investments in Guyana

Several Canadian mining companies operating in Guyana have pledged to invest tens of millions of US dollars in expansion projects here. This announcement was made at the just concluded Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada Convention (PDAC) held in Toronto, Canada.
Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Goldfields Inc, Scott Caldwell announced that the company plans to boost annual gold production to 300,000 ounces by 2022 with the introduction of underground mining. He highlighted his company’s corporate social responsibility record which includes ongoing training and development of the Guyanese workforce.

Caldwell pointed out that the Government of Guyana receives eight per cent royalty of all the gold mined and added that the company’s ongoing expansion augurs well for Guyana, its shareholders and stakeholders.
Guyana Goldfields Inc has spent approximately US$50 million in the local economy over the years in the areas goods and in services such as hauling of freight, engineering, and contract mining.
Additionally, Chief Executive Officer of Sandsprings/ETK, Rich Munson, which has acquired the Toroparu Gold Project, said that this undertaking is the number two ranked undeveloped projects in South America. The Toroparu Gold Project is described as a world class asset with a 10 million-ounce potential gold reserve. He explained that Sandsprings/ETK will in the future face a demand for about 35 megawatts of electricity when the operation is up and running and is therefore developing a hydro-electric station known as the Kurupung River Hydroelectric Project (KRHP).
This station will use run-of-river technology which requires no damming. He added that his company is mindful of Guyana’s interest in hydro-electricity, and has designed the KRHP to be expanded incrementally from 50 megawatts to 100 megawatts with the aim of supplying external clients.
President and Director of Goldsource/Kilroy Mining, Yannis Tsitos indicated that his company has spent more than US$22 million in exploration and development in Guyana which he described as, “an extremely good jurisdiction.” The company intends to eventually produce around one million ounces of gold, averaging between 55,000 and 75,000 ounces a year.
“I would hope that one-day Guyana can come out of the loop of being an exporter of raw bauxite by self-producing, and eventually building an alumina or even an aluminum plant,” he also urged.
While he is calling for the building of an aluminum plant, Guyana at one time operated such a plant. The plant, located at Mackenzie, Linden, was closed in 1981 following the nationalisation of the bauxite industry by the People’s National Congress Government. When it closed, over a thousand workers were laid off. During his address, Finance Minister Winston Jordan assured the gathering that the “financial system is robust, with banks and other non-bank financial institutions being sound and adequately capitalised, public debt levels are prudently managed while annual inflation hovers around two per cent.”
Minister Jordan also lauded Guyana’s mining sector as a significant pillar of the country’s economy and the main contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the past three years as well as a major source of Foreign Direct Investment.
He noted though, that while mining in Guyana is successful, it is “unable to unleash its full potential’ because it is challenged by the “unavailability of requisite capital to local investors.”
To address this challenge, he said, Government is encouraging local miners to establish linkages with foreign investors and members of the Diaspora to access the necessary financing and technology while at the same time providing fiscal incentives in the form of concessions on machinery, equipment and fuel, and waiver and remission of taxes on motor vehicles, based on the value of gold declaration. He added that mining operators are permitted to hold foreign exchange retention accounts.
Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons who is also the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade, Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, pointed to Canada’s renowned capabilities in off-shore oil and gas, and acknowledged that Guyana is a key market for Canada.
Guyana’s High Commissioner to Canada, Clarissa Riehl and Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Lilian Chatterjee also made brief remarks.