Response to misinformation peddled in a published article

Dear Editor,
There have been several false claims in a published article titled “Manganese company sifting gold non-stop at Matthews Ridge”, and also on a televised programme on his Social Media page.
Please allow us to address those claims in chronological order, as follows:
1. Our Guyanese employees are involved in all aspects of our operation. In fact, most of our departments are headed by Guyanese; e.g., Workshop, Mines, General Affairs, Warehouse, and Security.
All our operators and drivers are Guyanese, and are involved in mining, milling, transporting and loading of manganese from the mine to the ocean-going vessels at the mouth of the Waini River.
2. The manganese ore is basically crushed and washed in our process plant, so there are absolutely no mechanisms in place to capture gold or “separating mills”, as is claimed by the article.
3. Last year GMI shipped 107,230 tons of manganese ore, and paid to GGMC royalties of G$21,450,000.
4. Our fleet of trucks consists of forty 25-ton trucks, and not 60 tons as reported by the article
5. The loading of the manganese barges is totally done by our Guyanese operators, both at Port Kaituma and at the transshipment point at the mouth of the Waini River. Guyanese are also employed on the barges as Able-Bodied Seamen.
6. We are unaware of whether GWI is importing manganese for the purpose of water purification, but that would be their management’s decision.
7. The ships can only be loaded with the quantity of manganese ore that is available for export, due to our haulage bottleneck from Matthews Ridge to Port Kaituma. So as to save on the cost of the chartered vessel and to utilize the space available, bauxite may then be loaded onto the same vessel at the Waini Point, and not at Linden. These vessels are compartmentalized, or have different hatches so that the manganese and bauxite are separated. GGMC and customs officers are involved in the loading process.
Our operation is inspected on a quarterly basis by GGMC. This inspection ranges from safety to environmental issues. There is no part of our operation that is inaccessible to our local employees or GGMC; we have nothing to hide.
In closing, Guyana Manganese Inc is not a gold mining company, and is absolutely not involved in the extraction, processing or exportation of gold.
We view this publication as an orchestrated attack on our company. In fact, Kaieteur News has, in the past, written several derogatory articles about GMI without seeking clarification or comment from the company. The Company had taken a position to not lend any credence to these articles, as they were based on falsehoods.
We hope this brings some clarity to this issue and exposes the article’s misstatements.

Guyana Manganese Inc.