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Gold fields
Editorial…
(Kaieteur News) – If there is one thing to be said about the Canadians, it is they have an incredible appetite for Guyana’s gold lands. At one time, the Chinese held that honour. Today the Canadians have muscled in and shoved the Chinese to the role of secondary players in Guyana’s lucrative gold sector.
There is now a total of 13 Canadian gold companies operating in Guyana’s rich gold belt. G Mining Ventures (GMIN), Aris Mining, G2 Goldfields, and Omai Gold Mines are among the bigger, more well-known names. More recently, XAU Resources and Fortuna Mining Corp joined the great Guyana gold rush. From acquisitions of other foreign gold companies or secret partnerships with local holders of large tracts of gold lands, the Canadians have extended their footprint, and are now the force to reckon with in Guyana’s gold sector. To put it bluntly, the Canadians seem to have the Government of Guyana in a vice, and a stranglehold over gold operations in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Region One in Guyana’s Northwest. The Canadians are not fixated on gold alone. Another Canadian firm, U92 Energy Corp, just closed out its acquisition of a Singaporean firm, to explore for uranium in the Kurupung area.
Some may see this as strategic. We at this paper see this as the Canadians wrapping the PPP/C Government around their fingers. All of these large acreages of gold lands in exchange for what? What is Guyana gaining for being so generous with its much in demand gold lands? The APNU+AFC Coalition gave away the rich Stabroek Block and all the oil that is in for a pittance. Thousands of kilometers of untouched oil fields ripe for exploration and extraction. The production record since First Oil in December 2019 needs no introduction, speaks for itself. Similarly, we admit to growing amazement at the rapid spread of Canadian companies in operation in Guyana’s goldfields. They grow from strength to strength, and with almost unchecked freedom. Not a cautioning hand, not a concerned word, from the PPP/C Government.
It is good news to have so many companies interested in exploring Guyana’s virgin gold lands. What is Guyana getting for opening its doors and welcoming this virtual flood of gold investors? It cannot be that rich, not when the government is forced to hide the terms and conditions of the contracts signed with the foreign gold companies. They are mostly Canadian. It must be getting rather crowded in the interior with 13 companies from Canada alone doing their studies, bringing in their equipment, and increasing their labour force. We have two conditions for all companies exploring and working in the hinterlands of this country. First, the environment that has to be ripped up, must be restored to some state to benefit generations to come. Foreign presence must not transform where they touched into wasteland. Second, their presence must benefit this country’s peoples. Their earnings must mean earnings for Guyana’s treasury, and it cannot be of the small loaf variety. That has been the curse of this country. Large plots of coveted land handed over, rich assets parted with, and the equivalent of insulting beggar’s riches being Guyana’s share of the pie. Twist it or turn it, this is Guyana’s big natural resources pie. A pie that companies from all over the globe want to get their fingers and teeth in. It has to be a two-way street. The hordes of foreign investors make their millions, and so also must Guyana’s coffers be swollen.
The PPP/C Government has been curiously quiet with the flurry of corporate activity in Guyana’s remote gold lands. From bitter experience, we have learned that when governments in this country think it wiser to deal in silence, that is a warning sign. It is not good for this country nor its peoples. The PPP/C Government, that has made a cottage industry out of boasting about its successes in attracting foreign investors to Guyana, has been too silent. That could be the giveaway. It has nothing rich to share, so close mouths have been the result. Compare that to different Canadian CEOs reporting exciting gold estimates to their shareholders. It must be the same cheap contracts, and surrender of Guyana’s riches.
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Eventually, in the future, one by one, all the producing fields will be “fielded away” to big companies everywhere – Oil, Gold, Bauxite bite the dust already.
Corn, Soyabeans, Paddy/Rice, Bygan, Plantain, Banana, Ginger, Peanuts,
Black Pepper, Pumpkin, Squash, Mango, Avocado, Coconuts, etc…
We must wait and it will happen.