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Govt. worries as gold declarations plunges by 20 percent
Gold declarations have plunged with a worried Government yesterday urging the mining body to help reverse the situation.
The current data trend for the first five months of this year has shown a signification decrease
Declarations for the year have dropped alarmingly by almost 20% as compared to last year.
in gold output, when compared to the same period for last year. For January to May, total gold declaration amounted to 165,595 ounces as compared to 204,970.42 ounces for the same period last year.
The poor showing led to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment writing the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) on Tuesday.
The letter, signed by Minister Robert Persaud, and addressed GGDMA’s president, Patrick Harding, made it clear that the figure was a 19.21% decrease for the corresponding period of 2014, over that of 2013.
Currently, the level of declaration for 2014 is only 34.17 per cent of the targeted amount for the year which is set at 484,562 ounces.
For the first half of 2014, the Guyana Gold Board was targeting 242,281 ounces. “It must be emphasized that whilst the price of gold is lower than that which was previously expected, the level of gold mining operations have improved and the data sets have indicated that production is continuing,” according to the letter by the Minister.
“The gold mining sector of our economy has been a pillar of improve economic well-being for
Guyana. This has been achieved because of the consistently rising levels of gold declaration over the last decade. The importance of the gold mining sector to our economy cannot be over emphasized since gold has been the largest earner of foreign revenue for the last seven years.”
Yesterday, the Ministry announced that a meeting was held at the GGDMA and licensed gold dealers to consider ways to improve the situation.
Present at the meeting held at the Ministry’s offices at Brickdam were Minister Persaud, Chairman of the Guyana Gold Board; Dr. Gobind Ganga, along with GGDMA executives and private dealers.
A number of measures will be taken including public sensitization and a proactive monitoring and enforcement drive by the Guyana Gold Board regarding undeclared gold transactions.
Stakeholders met yesterday to map measures on how to boost gold declarations.
The measures will also include enhanced inter-agency coordination between law enforcement agencies and the Guyana Revenue Authority.
The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), which regulates the industry, will also start enforcement of reporting obligations by miners.
The police will soon be moving to launch a crackdown on illegal gold trading entities across the country.
“Stakeholders pledged their support for these measures. The Minister emphasized that the Government of Guyana remains uncompromising in its efforts to ensure full compliance with the laws to deal with these issue of undeclared gold and reports of smuggling,” the Ministry said yesterday in a statement.
Last year’s gold declaration was the largest ever at 481,087 ounces. Gold exports was a massive US$648M as at December 31.
With sugar struggling and rice production holding up, surpassing a record 500,000 tonnes last year, Government would want gold to continue raking in its millions.
However prices have plunged from US$1,800 per ounce high to over US$1,200 last year.
Miners have been urged to lower their costs to sustain their operations.
The spinoffs from gold have been major for the economy with cash-rich miners buying up real estate, equipment and vehicles.
Workers have been flooding the gold fields in the hopes of making some quick bucks. (Leonard Gildarie)
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