Beyond belief, totally unacceptable

Aug 19, 2026 Editorial

Kaieteur News – We at this paper report on the unconscionable in Guyana’s rich interior. Ordinary Guyanese endure a trial by fire to obtain approval for a small parcel of mining land. They have to wait years, and often walkaway emptyhanded.

The politics or the bureaucracy left them high and dry. It leaves a bitter taste. More bitter is the taste when the news hits that foreign companies operating in the goldfields of Guyana are given the freest hand imaginable, gobble up huge acreage of prime mineral lands.

Two Australian firms, Altair Minerals and Liberty Metals Ltd, together control a combined 770 square kilometers of prime gold lands in the mineral rich district of Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region Seven). Many times, the size of Guyana’s capital city, Georgetown. It seems to be part of an emerging pattern, what is now becoming ordinary. It is inconceivable that huge plots of land could be obtained by locals, then change hands without restriction, without penalty. To stop this hemorrhage, there must be steps to correct an unacceptable situation.

A local group that wins a large concession should submit a business plan as part of its application, including any visions of linking up with a foreign company. We believe that there should be a holding period for these awards, and that only a small fraction of the mining lands awarded should change hands. Further, when these deals are sealed, there should be some immediate benefit to the national coffers. This is too easy, allowed to happen too freely. It is almost an incentive to take the gold lands obtained and hand them over to foreign investors, without so much as a government stamp of approval.

The deal that was finalised last year between local conglomerate, Adamantium Exploration, Inc. and Altair Minerals publicly identify the two parties. The same is lacking for the four-year option agreement signed by Liberty Metals and an undisclosed private Guyanese party for the former to operate in the rich Oko gold district. This is troubling on several fronts. For starters, whenever one party to an agreement (a local one) deems it necessary to shroud his or her business in secrecy that raises suspicions immediately, even when such may be without foundation. The fact that someone’s identity in something as big as that land deal signed has to be concealed prompts a question. For what reason is such a step thought to be so necessary? It is not a good sign.

Who was it that obtained that large tract of gold land that now forms such a huge part of Liberty Metals portfolio of Guyana gold lands? It is no secret that only the well-connected in Guyana can apply for enormous parcels of mining land, and then leave with official documents detailing their success. To elaborate, the well-connected in Guyana means the politically connected, and there have been examples of those winners. The hiding behind a wall of secrecy raises another worrying issue. Somebody could be fronting for some person high in the Guyana Government. Who could that be? How many more of these front men or front women are around, where these extensive gold lands so swiftly and seamlessly change hands? The fact that the government is quiet, seems to be comfortable with these side arrangements is not in its favour. Is the government also tied up in these arrangements that leave the smaller miners to wonder and lament? How it is that they never come within striking distance of these sweetheart deals that seemingly begin in the heart of the government, and then play out in greater detail in Guyana’s rich mining areas.

Without a doubt, foreign companies have the capital, expertise, and technology to explore and unearth the mineral riches of Guyana’s vast interior. We are saying that the local and foreign partnerships have gone to the stage where they are now wholesale and executed without any fears of interference or condemnation. This conveys that much power is behind those signing over gold lands to foreigners. When the government is silent and seemingly uninterested in reining in the situation, ordinary Guyanese lose, the country loses, and citizens lose faith. Who and what is involved? Rich national assets are now treated like private property.

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Adamantium Exploration, Altair Minerals and Liberty Metals Ltd, Australian firms, Oko gold district

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