The One-Million Ounce League and the Governance Threshold

Mar 24, 2026 Letters

Dear Editor,

Today’s report on Aris Mining Corporation’s strategy to reach the one-million-ounce league, anchored by the Toroparu project in Region 7 and Soto Norte in Colombia, is a watershed moment for Guyana.

The numbers are consequential: US14.7 billion in projected gold sales over Toroparu’s 21-year mine life and US3.4 billion in projected government earnings. As Aris moves toward a 2027 construction decision, the market must look beyond the financial projections and examine the shifting legal ground beneath the sector.

The 2025 High Court ruling in Morris and Marcus v. Environmental Protection Agency changed the risk profile for every mining major operating in this country. By establishing that Scope 3 emissions must be identified and evaluated in all Environmental Impact Assessments, and by confirming that private citizens have legal standing to challenge permit adequacy, the court transformed environmental compliance from a regulatory formality into a primary financial liability. A single successful legal challenge can stall a billion-dollar project. That is not a theoretical risk. It is now Guyanese judicial precedent.

For the Vancouver-based boardroom of Aris Mining and the Montreal-based leadership of G Mining Ventures, whose Oko West project received its mining licence from the GGMC in December 2025 and is targeting first gold in H2 2027, the challenge is no longer solely geology or capital. It is the Governance Gap. The distance between a TSX filing in Canada and the regulatory reality of the GGMC and the EPA in Georgetown is where value leakage occurs, where permitted projects become vulnerable, where Local Content Act obligations generate unmanaged exposure, and where community standing to challenge EIAs creates litigation risk that no financial model currently prices.

This is not an argument against Guyana’s mining sector. Quite the opposite. The companies that treat the Morris ruling, the LCA compliance architecture, and the GGMC’s evolving technical standards as governance opportunities rather than bureaucratic obstacles will secure their Social License to Operate faster and more durably than those that do not. In an era where a single legal challenge can derail US$14.7 billion in projected sales, governance intelligence is not a soft metric. It is the definitive operational protection for every dollar committed to the Guiana Shield.

Emerging Markets Governance Advisory Inc. (EMGA) was established specifically to close this gap. EMGA is a Vancouver-based strategic intelligence and governance advisory firm founded by a Guyanese-born Canadian specialist with deep expertise in the Guiana Shield’s political economy. EMGA provides the intelligence bridge between Vancouver’s capital standards and Georgetown’s regulatory requirements, from LCA compliance frameworks and EIA governance to GGMC permit risk analysis and community engagement strategy.

As the only firm providing pan-Canadian governance intelligence specifically for the Guiana Shield, EMGA works with Canadian mining companies, institutional investors, and government clients to ensure that the governance architecture protecting their Guyana operations matches the scale of the capital they have committed. Guyana’s one-million-ounce league is within reach. Getting there requires that the governance threshold be crossed with the same rigour applied to the geology.

Regards,

Dr. Walter H. Persaud,

Principal, Emerging Markets Governance Advisory Inc.

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