Gold company continues to receive $$Billions in incentives, despite never meeting contractual obligation

Nov 17, 2019 News

Troy Resources Guyana has suspended its operations pending a decision by the Board of Directors today, even as Chief Executive Officer, Ken Nilsson, has confirmed that despite securing billions of dollars of duty free imports and tax waivers on machinery, equipment and fuel, the gold company has never met its promised production target.
The concessions were given to the company as part of its deal with the local authorities to invest millions of dollars, create hundreds of jobs and contribute to the national coffers by way of an 8 per cent royalty on its production.
The operation in the Cuyuni/Mazuruni Region has since come under increasing fire, over its operations and the cost/benefit to the country.
Nilsson, this past week, provided an update for media operatives on the debacle over the resumption of the operations, when he confirmed that since commencing production in 2015, Troy Resources has never achieved a single set target in the agreement.
In fact, its targets for this year will have to be revised downwards further. He has since blamed the weather as being among the factors.
General Manager of the Troy Resources gold mines at Karouni in Region Seven, Eric Olsen, during a tour of the project, provided a brief history of the company. He recalled that Troy acquired the Karouni project by acquiring Azimuth Resources Limited which was in operation at the time.
Troy Resources obtained 94 Small Scale Tenements, 220 Medium Scale and six Large Scale Tenements in addition to another three recent claims.
According to Olsen, during 2015 the company began Construction of its processing plant at a cost of some US$75M and commenced production the following year.
According to the company’s latest Annual Report, production for this year ending June 30, was 58,118 ounces.
In 2018, Troy Resources despite producing more than this year, did not meet its expected target.
The majority of Troy’s exploration effort is currently being directed towards the Ohio Creek.
According to CEO Nilsson, the company is currently working under the rules that allow it for business purposes to stand down a number of employees. Currently it has only retained 137.
According to Nilsson, the Board of Directors will have to take a decision before this time runs out. “Then we have to have something to go out and say, this is how we plan to go ahead…at the end of the day the decision sits with the board.”
Nilsson told media operatives that the company in fact does not have any obligation to pay the employees during the time for which it was shut down.
However, despite lamenting the likely shut down, Journalists who were given a guided tour of the site, observed that there was in fact soil testing and other works ongoing in the area where geologist, 33-year-old Ryan Taylor, was recently killed.

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