Latest update August 19th, 2026 10:39 AM
The foreign invasion – real partner needed
Editorial…
(Kaieteur News) – First, the Chinese came and setup their own city in Guyana’s rich goldfields. The Canadians came next, and by the droves. The last check indicated almost a dozen companies that fly the Maple Leaf flag are now firmly rooted in the goldfields of Guyana. The latest is that a company from the bottom of the world is now here and excited to be exploring for gold. Liberty Metals Ltd is the second Australian company that is tearing apart the rich lands of the interior in the hunt for gold.
Citizens learn of tens of thousands of acres of gold lands awarded to different firms. Small cities by themselves that are, in effect, countries within this country in its deep hinterlands. There are two numbers that citizens are limited to hearing something about, and sometimes by chance. The gold companies operating here have to give their stakeholders updates, estimates from various projects. Guyanese are coincidental, even though it is their land and their treasure. We report about acreage to choke an elephant, but little else. Other than how many hundreds of thousands, or millions, of ounces of gold are projected to be won, the rest is a blank slate for Guyanese.
The PPP/C government had mentioned that world-class gold companies would be coming to Guyana to unlock gold riches. That was it, with the usual celebration of jobs to be created and surrounding infrastructure to be built. No one in the government has thought it necessary to say something about the terms and conditions of the gold contracts signed with these foreign companies. We hear about acres and ounces, as estimated, but after that there is the usual blanket of silence. This country has had its hands chewed off by one company after another, and in more than one area of natural resource riches. Still, there is mostly silence.
We remind readers of another Australian firm, Troy Resources, that came with big visions. It stayed a while, and when it left under the cover of dark, Guyana was left to pick up the pieces that it could not afford. Before Troy, there was a cyanide spill, and again those who benefited from rich gold harvests, packed up and took off. The biggest example of the disadvantage by far under which Guyana labours has to be the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement constructed by ExxonMobil, and signed off on by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government. An oil deal that holds this country hostage, and the executives of ExxonMobil still call themselves trusted partners. Now that the US$55B investment has been repaid, this country shall see by how much the money changes in the 50:50 profit split. We appreciate that business is a cold and ruthless calculation. What troubles is how this country always seems to be the party victimised, always left hanging and short.
We need foreign investment dollars, foreign technology, and foreign expertise. They all come at a cost, not one of which is cheap. That much is accepted, but it would be a shot in the arm if the government would be less about what benefits the foreign explorers and self-enrichers, and more of what works to the benefit of citizens. It could be gold, it is oil and gas, and it may be uranium, and the results are always the same. The foreign companies are incentivised, and the population is further degraded. There is no logic to what is going on in Guyana, where foreign investors flock here to strike it rich in gold and bauxite and oil and gas. Just wait a while, and rare earths could be added to that list that grows steadily. Almost half the people hungry, the elderly struggling, and then there is this other development that is now the norm. In a country flush with investment, and economic activity, there is the irony that the commercial banks do not have foreign currency (US dollars) to offer to citizens. In a transformational economy and numbers that leave other countries green with envy, foreign currency is unavailable.
We wish to make clear that we welcome foreign investors, but the terms must be favourable. When those are so, and made public, then Guyana has finally gained a true partner.
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