‘Gold boom, missing ounces’ – Opposition slams Govt. over declining declarations amid record prices

Dec 22, 2025 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Opposition Member of Parliament Dr. Terrence Campbell has launched a sharp attack on the government over years of falling gold declarations despite soaring global prices, accusing the administration of tolerating widespread under-declaration and turning a blind eye to gold smuggling.

Speaking at APNU’s weekly press conference on Friday, Campbell said the pattern of declining declarations during a historic gold price rally defies basic economic logic and would not have been accepted under an APNU-led government.

“During the period where the price of gold was going up, the declarations were falling. This is the kind of economics that I can’t comprehend,” Campbell said.  This publication had reported that Guyana’s gold industry had experienced a steady decline in declarations between 2019 and 2023, falling by approximately 209,000 ounces, according to the Bank of Guyana’s annual reports. However, 2024 saw a modest increase of 1,954 ounces— from 432,113 ounces in 2023 to 434,067 ounces in 2024. Despite the marginal rise in output, gold revenue for 2024 climbed to US$989.9 million, a US$180 million increase over the previous year, largely due to higher global gold prices.

Campbell pointed to figures between 2019 and 2024 to support his argument, noting that while international gold prices increased sharply, declarations moved in the opposite direction. Campbell stated that in 2019 the world market price for gold was US$1,392 per ounce, with declarations of 641,828 ounces. He noted that by 2024, prices had climbed to about US$2,388 per ounce, but declarations though increased from the previous year, had dropped to approximately to 434,000 ounces.

“This is what has been happening with gold, and the government is aware of these figures. There is no way that APNU in charge of this country would have tolerated such a situation,” he said. The opposition MP also accused the government of turning a blind eye to gold smuggling, alleging political links between smugglers and the ruling party. “But a lot of the players who are involved in gold smuggling are supporters of the PPP and so the PPP government turns a blind eye to what is happening in the gold sector,” he said.

Further, Campbell argued that gold remains one of the most critical pillars of the economy and criticised what he described as the administration’s lack of urgency in addressing the issue. He also outlined that under the APNU government, an enforcement team operated within the Ministry of Natural Resources to address under-declaration and smuggling, warning that decisive action is unlikely under the current administration.

Notably, this year Guyana’s gold sector showed stronger signs of recovery in the first half of 2025, with a 10.9% increase in output driven by higher declarations from Aurora Gold Mines and small- and medium-scale miners, according to the Mid-Year Report tabled in the National Assembly earlier this month. This year, the price per ounce of gold hit US$4,000 – for the first time in history.

For 2025, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat had said the government is prioritising efforts to improve recovery rates among small and medium-scale miners, whose current recovery levels range between 40% and 45%; while the country’s only large-scale producer AGM has achieved recovery rates as high as 95%.

In August, this publication reported that Chinese state-owned Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd., operating in Guyana through its subsidiary AGM Inc., earned RMB1.4789 billion (over US$200 million) from the Aurora Gold Mine during the first half of 2025. The company’s interim report valued the mine’s total assets at RMB4.5287 billion and disclosed that it produced 2,039 kilograms (over 71,000 ounces) of gold between January and June. Zijin stated that Aurora’s output contributed to the 41,186 kilograms of gold produced across its global operations, marking a 16% increase over the same period last year. The company also noted that a technological upgrade was completed at the Guyana operation.

The Aurora Gold Project, located in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), is wholly owned by AGM and remains Guyana’s only large-scale gold mine currently in production. It holds estimated reserves of 184 tonnes (approximately six million ounces) of gold. The Cuyuni-Mazaruni district also hosts several other large-scale developments, including the 5.4 million-ounce Toroparu Gold Project, the 5.4 million-ounce Oko West Gold Project, and the 2.1 million-ounce Omai Gold Project, all controlled by Canadian companies.

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• AGM, APNU, gold, ounces, Terrence Campbell

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