Non-compliant miners to face land repossession

…as Govt targets idle gold mining lands

The Government will begin repossessing gold mining lands where operators are found to be non-compliant, making false declarations or recording little to no production, President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced.
The President made the disclosure during a live interview on Tuesday, warning that strong action will be taken against miners and traders who benefit from state incentives but fail to meet their legal and environmental obligations.
President Ali said the mining sector was in a severely-weakened state when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government returned to office, prompting the Administration to introduce hundreds of billions of dollars in incentives to revive the industry. These included duty-free concessions on fuel, machinery and equipment, as well as tax incentives, which miners continue to enjoy despite global gold prices rising to more than US$4000 per ounce.
“The mining sector almost went dead when we came back into office. Hundreds of billions of dollars in incentive they still benefit from, although the gold prices went up to more than four thousand dollars (US) an ounce. They still have the incentive on fuel,” the President said, noting that the measures directly benefited the wider population by stabilising the sector and preserving jobs.
However, Ali stressed that the Government is now taking a firm stance on declaration and compliance issues within the industry. He warned that miners who purchase mercury using declared production figures but fail to properly declare gold output will face scrutiny. Lands that are registered but show no production or declarations will be repossessed.
“That is why we’re taking the declarations issue very seriously, and we’re going to the mercury they buy with their declarations. If they have land that they’re working on that gradually registered and there’s no declarations, we’re going to repossess those lands because no sense to destroy the environment and there is no production,” the Head of State said.
“There is no sense destroying the environment when there is no production,” the President said, adding that miners have a duty to declare all gold produced and to sell through the Guyana Gold Board.
He announced that on January 5, a comprehensive assessment will be conducted on every miner and gold trader, following which decisive action will be taken. The President made it clear that the Government wants full compliance across the sector and expects all gold to be properly declared and sold through the official channels.
The move forms part of broader efforts to strengthen accountability, protect the environment and ensure that national resources are managed responsibly, while maintaining support for legitimate and productive mining operations.