Canadian investors

Jul 06, 2025 Editorial, News

Kaieteur News – Where there is the potential for rich returns, investors will flock from everywhere. Investors are not going to squander their fortunes, their investment dollars, where rewards are less than promising, the odds long. Aside from its massive oil discoveries, and the downstream opportunities, Guyana has long had a reputation for being rich in minerals, much of it unexplored and untapped. Accordingly, return hungry investors will come from all over, be they as far away as Australia and China, or Canada and India, they will run to Guyana of their own will and at high speed. It is how business works, with businesses (investors) going where the money is, whether in the form of gold, or manganese, or bauxite.

We thought that by now that President Irfaan Ali would have grasped this. He can hail Canada for its ‘major’ investments in Guyana, but it is wasted energy. This is because the riches of Guyana are now its biggest selling point. It could be on land, or it could be offshore, and Guyana has a foundation built on rich mineral resources. The evidence keeps growing, and in Guyana’s gold sector alone, there are five Canadian gold companies that can now celebrate their assessments and projections of 15.5 million ounces of gold. Blood to a shark and meat to a lion, and the scent of that has to be compelling to other investors. By any standard, Guyana is a virtual mineral rich basin, a vast one.

Investors are drawn to that, cannot turn their minds away from such a prospect, of which there are many. So, instead of President Ali hailing Canadian (or any other) investors, we believe that there is a more constructive way in which he can use his time. Since Guyana’s riches are now like a self-driving vehicle, the president should be focusing on extracting the best terms for citizens. Where is the sense in speaking so positively about major Canadian investors in Guyana’s mining sector, when there are so many Guyanese living in, or close to, poverty? At current prices, 15.5 million ounces of gold represent tens of billions of American dollars in revenues. How many of those billions are going into Guyana’s Treasury? We appreciate that gold prices are volatile and can experience lengthy slumps, but even making allowance for a 50% drop in the next few years when production and exportation rachet up, the revenues raked in would still be in the tens of billions of US dollars, albeit at a lesser level.

So, we put the question again before the president and the public. Why are there so many hungry and nervous Guyanese today? One factor could be that Guyana is trading its gold riches far too cheaply. Nine years ago, Guyana under the APNU+AFC Coalition government got ‘the wrong end of the stick’ for their oil wealth. Everyone, including the people at ExxonMobil, know that 2% royalty and zero taxes, among other negatives, more resembles a commercial robbery than what should be a fair deal in an equal partnership. Today, Guyanese for generations to come coexist uneasily with an investor, a company, that somehow finds the face to call itself a partner. Today, on the brink of five years of PPPC governance, the APNU+AFC Coalition contract ignominy, its 2016 oil deal, should be used as the benchmark to be avoided at all costs. Every investor expectation has to be wisely managed, every concession and provision must be a two-way street, with both sides benefiting handsomely. And every gold contract finalized stand on its own, due to its rich terms and conditions, not just for the foreign investors, but for the people of this country also.

Considering 15.5 million ounces of gold set to be harvested in the coming years, and with gold prices holding up reasonably well, Guyana’s gold earnings could be competing with what comes from oil. More investors will come to Guyana without too much marketing from the president or any other. What Guyanese are not hearing is how does Guyana prosper alongside the foreign investors, from wherever they originate. President Ali loves to sell himself, make himself look good. He must also love negotiating to get the best deals for Guyanese.

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bauxite, Canadian investors, Editorial, gold

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