Govt. ‘monitoring’ internal conflict at Guyana Goldfields

Mar 29, 2019 News

Minister Raphael Trotman

Government says it is closely monitoring the current internal conflict at the Guyana Goldfields Inc. However, warned Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman yesterday, there is not likely at this time to be any intervention by Government in what is an internal situation.

The Aurora mine, which the Canadian company manages in the Cuyuni, Region Seven, is the country’s largest gold producer, declaring over 150,000 ounces annually since its entrance into commercial operations three years ago.
According to Trotman, the company remains one of the flagship companies in Guyana.

The Minister admitted that the entity seems to be in the throes of difficulty internally, with minority shareholders seeking reviews.
“Government is monitoring, of course, and we just want what is best for Guyana. We will not intervene in an internal issue. We will want to ensure that our productive levels are not affected.
Less production means less royalty for Guyana. We trust the issues will be resolved quickly,” the Minister said.
A special shareholders’ meeting is set to be held within weeks.
Founder Patrick Sheridan is among a number of shareholders who say that they have hired an independent consultant to review the resource model at the Aurora mine.
For several months now, Sheridan and a number of shareholders have been fighting the current Board of Directors over what they say is poor management and questions over the figures as announced.

The mill area at the Aurora mine site, Region Seven

In addition, the shareholders were concerned over what they say was a sharp drop in the value of their investments – in the vicinity of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Aurora mine was commissioned in early 2016 becoming the biggest single gold producer.
It is in the process of entering underground mining shortly, the first in Guyana.
The company has been handed millions of dollars in tax concessions and has in excess of 500 employees at the mine site on the Cuyuni River, Region Seven.
The company is upping its annual estimated average recovered gold production to 218,000 ounces over the next five years at average operation cash costs of US$753/oz, including royalties to the Government of Guyana. It has total capital of US$124M to develop the underground mine and US$256M in sustaining capital.
The majority of the money raised for the development of the Aurora mine has come from overseas investors.
“Aurora has produced more than 500,000 ounces of gold in just over three years of commercial production and, despite some tough challenges, we remain confident in our future success,” said Scott Caldwell, President and CEO in a statement Wednesday.
Concerned shareholders have said that they are suspicious over the company’s seemingly misleading disclosures and general market skepticism.

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