-Broomes leads team to China

GUYANA’S mining sector can benefit significantly from closer relations with the People’s Republic of China, including in the area of mining technology, as awareness intensifies into this country’s oil and gold sector.

This was the consensus following a visit by a Guyana delegation led by Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, and comprising several officials of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), including Gordon Nestor, Acting Manager, Geological Services; Unata DeFreitas, Senior Geologist; and Lawrence Simon, Geologist.

The team attended the China Mining Congress and Expo 2016, held in Tianjin during the period September 22 – 25, and a release from the Ministry of Natural Resources said the event attracted delegations from the mining industry across several regions, and afforded the Guyanese delegation the opportunity to engage various country representatives on issues of mining and mining technology.

As such, there are prospects for further bilateral engagements with those countries which Guyana needs to explore, Minister Broomes noted.

In relation to Guyana’s participation at the forum, and its bilateral engagements with other participating delegations, several issues were discussed. To this end, the release noted, Guyana’s perspective was hinged on the emphasis which the forum placed on the importance of both ‘greening’ and safety in the mining sector.

The focus on a ‘green economy’ as is advocated by President David Granger was brought to the fore, and it was deduced that bilateral engagement between China and Guyana on greening and the mining sector can be established.

“Arising out of the experience of the Congress and Expo, it is felt that the creation of an enhanced understanding of the significance of a ‘green economy’ should be a priority focus in Guyana’s mining sector”, the release noted.

It was further noted that the engagements pointed to an increasing global awareness of Guyana as both a ‘gold producing’ country and as a future ‘oil producing’ nation. According to the release, there is scope for the accelerated promotion of Guyana across the regions of the world in order to accelerate bilateral and multilateral cooperation in these areas.

The delegation also engaged Chinese entrepreneurs during the Congress and Expo, and this created the potential for cooperation between the Guyanese mining community and Chinese entrepreneurs offering equipment and technology relevant to the development of the local mining sector. It was recommended that Guyana should take advantage of the potential afforded by the outcomes of the engagements with the Chinese entrepreneurs.

“The Ministry of Natural Resources will be seeking to further investigate, through the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Guyana, the full extent of the support which the local gold mining sector can receive from China”, the release added.

Following the visit, Minister Broomes made note of the significant number of female entrepreneurs in the Chinese technology, mining, and energy sectors who participated in the Congress and Expo, some of whom she took the opportunity to engage. As such, she is strongly advocating as a priority the strengthening of ties between these potential Chinese women investors and the local mining sector. She has committed herself to keeping communication channels open with these prospective investors.

Following the event, it was recommended that Guyana participate annually in future holdings of the event, and that Guyana should expand its involvement to include, among other things, the setting up of a Guyana Mining Booth at the 2017 event.
In addition, the possibility of joint venture arrangements involving Guyanese miners and Chinese investors was also placed on the table.