Gold – all that glitters is not

Jul 23, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Gold prices have been up for an extended period, hovering close to US$2000 per ounce. Guyana has more huge foreign gold companies operating here, and from their own announcements are poised to rake in millions upon millions in American dollars from mega gold finds. Amidst these two encouraging developments, the surprise is that the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) is going the other way. As more big companies come here to exploit our rich goldfields, our gold declarations are going down.

The GGB has been recording lower declarations for the last six years. Local medium-scale miners contribute significantly to the GGB’s declarations. But, with the presence of newer, more muscular foreign gold companies operating here, the expectation is that gold numbers in this country would be hitting the roof. It was Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, who had excitedly informed Guyanese of a few world-class gold mining companies coming to Guyana to tap into our rich goldfields in the hinterlands.

They are here, and their mining operations are in full swing. Tapping into our gold riches is an understatement, for their standard of operations is on a massive scale, as effected through blasting deep into the earth in the search for great shelves of gold. Where locals make use of dredges and excavators in their hunt for gold, the foreign companies employ the latest state-of-the-art equipment, advanced techniques, and skillful use of explosives to separate the precious metal from its ancient roots deep below the earth’s surface. The results have been staggering and mouthwatering.

The Chief Executive Officer of one foreign gold company had a glowing update for her shareholders: explorations have led to the discovery of gold in ‘unlimited’ amounts. By any stretch of the imagination, ‘unlimited’ breaks into new territory, with great riches going to the officers and shareholders of that foreign gold company. Further, another gold company, also foreign, made the news in its own way: what is being experienced in Guyana is a ‘gold fever.’ Gold fever, from the beginning of time, and since man put a very high value on the commodity, has driven many to madness. Excitement and madness are what sweep across Guyana currently, as a great gold rush is underway.

What is good for foreign gold companies is not so good for Guyana. Here we are, the owners of this immense amount of mineral wealth, and the news of huge discoveries are obtained secondhand. The shareholders of the foreign companies hear about their good fortune first, while Guyanese come by their information on a ‘by the way’ basis. A reasonable person would think that with words like ‘unlimited’ and ‘gold fever’ from senior people in the different foreign gold companies, our gold numbers would be blowing through the roof. Nothing of the sort is occurring, and Guyana does not even have the clearest, most accurate, understanding of how many hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of ounces of gold that are found here.

Just as is the case with our offshore oil wealth, Guyana knows how much gold is produced by the gold companies themselves. They can tell us whatever they feel like, because the Guyanese who should be standing over gold operations and closely monitoring everything that is going on in those goldfields are not around, or not welcomed there. We know that the gold companies are here, and mining at an accelerated rate and that they have announced huge finds. The specifics of those gold harvests are not ours to know at this time.

So, what is the benefit to Guyana from the presence and operations of these mega companies? Our gold numbers should be significantly increasing, and so also our cash inflows from royalties and taxes. As usual, we hear political leaders foolishly boasting about jobs, and roads the companies build for their own benefit, and not much about material improvements in contract terms. No company should be operating our goldfields at the same single-digit royalty percentages, but at least twice than before. They have to do more with better jobs, more taxes, more for the environment, and more that make for equal partnership. Once again, Guyanese are reduced to spectators, while their wealth drains away, with little for themselves.

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Editorial, foreign, Guyana, Guyana Gold Board (GGB), ounce

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