Medium-scale miners benefit from auction of mining blocks

A number of medium-scale miners benefited from the auction of approximately 65 mining blocks within four mining districts on Saturday.
The auction took place at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown, and was hosted by the Natural Resources Ministry and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).

Mining blocks within the North West, Cuyuni, Mazaruni, and Potaro Mining Districts were auctioned at the event with bids starting at $300,000 per mining block. This was the first auction in a number of years.
Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat told the participants that the event was the fulfilment of yet another promise made by the Government to ensure that more mining lands were made available. He added that the activity also added to the many initiatives being implemented to encourage mining at all scales – small, medium, and large.

“We would have promised that we will continue to work in the mining sector, that we will continue to provide incentives in the mining sector and most importantly, the big cry is for mining properties and we said that we will make that available as much as possible and today we are delivering on yet another promise,” he said.
As part of a collaborative effort to develop the sector, the GGMC and the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) have procured equipment that will help to minimise carbon emissions and reduce the use of mercury in mining.
Bharrat explained that not only was that equipment mercury free, but it would also increase mining recovery rates by more than 100 per cent.

“Over the years ahead, we will see different methods being introduced in the mining sector. We will see different approaches…as miners, we have always been resilient and we will adapt to the changes,” he told the miners.
GGMC Commissioner Newell Dennison said auctions were the result of years of work by the GGMC to make lands available to promote the development of mining in Guyana. He said the intention was to give recognition and to create an avenue for the different miners to have access to lands to do more exploration and ultimately convert some of the properties to productive endeavours.
“We have attempted here to give recognition and create an avenue and opportunity for those several different types of mining scales to have access to lands, to do more explorations and hopefully convert some of these properties to very productive endeavours that can see an expansion of revenues not only to GGMC, but to the State at large,” he said.
Meanwhile, in an effort to make more mining properties available to small miners, the GGMC also held mining lotteries within the four mining districts. That activity saw 202 small miners gaining access to mining properties for the first time.
Back in 2014, after gold declarations slumped, the authorities opened up more lands for mining in all of the mining districts.