Wharf and airstrip for gold operations

Dec 05, 2023 Editorial

Kaieteur News – Many are coming to this country and dictating their own terms. They want this and they want anything that enriches themselves, while leaving Guyanese grasping at straws. The latest entity coming up with ideas on how to look out for its own interests is Reunion Gold of Canada, which is seeking permission from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to build its own wharf and airstrip to facilitate its gold operations.

On the face of it, a wharf and airstrip aid efficiency in operations, and cut costs, which should help Reunion to be highly profitable, leading to its hiring of more Guyanese, and paying more royalties and taxes to Guyana. The company is estimated to be nicely perched on 4.2 million ounces of gold in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni area in the remote interior. Considering the upside of that amount of gold, it should be a bonanza of an investment for Reunion should gold prices remain high. Depending on the contract between Reunion and Guyana, there should be something in it for this country’s treasury.

Beside the potential positives, there have to be some other concerns in Guyana with the request to the local EPA to construct a wharf and airstrip around Reunion’s facilities in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). A wharf and an airstrip could give any company a clear field to feather its nest to the disadvantage of Guyana. There are the issues of monitoring, checking, and overseeing the entirety of Reunion’s operations on a round-the-clock basis. Though no guarantee of integrity in Reunion’s operations due to probable incentives to locals, the barn door cannot be left opened, and all trust put in the tender mercies of any company. This is what has happened in other Third World countries, where foreigners corrupted the local staff that was set in place to police them. The Chinese did that and enjoyed a lovely time in its Ghanian mining operations. A wharf and airstrip that are unmanned by Guyanese is an invitation to exploit the situation that few would be able to resist. With 4.2 million ounces of gold in the ground, that massive amount of metal could be gone a planeload or boatload at a time, and Guyana would be the poorer for it. In other words, the gold is shipped out, and Guyanese none the wiser about what is happening in distant goldfields.

By any measurement, a gold operation in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) might as well be on the moon, so far it is. Guyana has little knowledge of what is going on, and control is all but nonexistent. Under prevailing circumstances, this country would be dependent on what Reunion sees fit to report to local officials. Whatever else went on out of sight would be anybody’s guess, with corporate intrigues likely getting the better of those in charge.

Guyanese should be aware (thanks to this publication) of how the Chinese have drawn a wall over their operations in different sectors (gold, bauxite, manganese) and different parts of this country with operational spheres such as Kwakwani and Matthews Ridge all being a part of a continuing evidence chain. Guyanese rarely hear of how much gold or other minerals are found and shipped. Guyanese never hear of them reporting how much profits they have made in all the years that the various companies have been here. What Guyanese know is that they are still here, and operating freely and enthusiastically across Guyana’s rich mineral belts and basins. That alone says something, for no company sticks around for long in any place where losses (or meager profits) result.

Just recently, an Australian company, Troy Resources, skipped town, and left Guyanese with a multibillion-dollar bill owed. Troy Resources came to Guyana with a solid reputation, and the ugly record of how it responded to this country’s contract and other generosities now smells all across Guyana. This country cannot continue to make these mistakes, when it has under-weight babies, malnourished children, and many poor citizens. How Guyana’s EPA is going to deal with this request for a wharf and airstrip remains to be seen. Unless there are the tightest controls with Guyanese involved, the proper checks and balances, and robust documenting, this wharf and airstrip should not be approved.

airstrip, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), gold, operations, wharf

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Wharf and airstrip for gold operations

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Wharf and airstrip for gold operations

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