Exciting prospects, buoyant time for mining in Guyana
ACTING Commissioner of Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC),  Mr. William Woolford, has predicted that there will be a resumption of large scale gold mining in this country by late 2012 or early 2013.
He disclosed that two companies, Guyana Goldfields Inc. and Sandspring Resources Limited, are presently moving, aggressively, ahead with plans to extract millions of ounces from their holdings.
Woolford said their production would amount to or even surpass that of Omai Gold Mines Limited (OGML), the last large scale operations here.
The major project of Guyana Goldfields Inc. is at Aurora in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).
It reported discovery of a zone at Aurora with significant value and said it expects  to extract at least four million ounces from its operations there.
Woolford said Guyana Goldfields has identified the networks it is going to put in place and the necessary infrastructure with which they are moving apace.
“We expect that, from what the company is telling us, that  production at Aurora  will begin between 2012 and 2013 as per a planned schedule,” he said.
The Canadian based company has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for permission to open a large scale mine at Aurora, in Cuyuni River, which, if approved, could see the construction of a hydropower facility across a section of the river, Woolford said.
He said the undertaking entails the operation of open pit and underground mines, mineral processing to recover gold, construction of a hydroelectric plant to provide electricity to the plant and the building of an access road and wharf to service the enterprise.
Sandspring, also based in Canada, has property within the exterior boundaries of Upper Puruni, the Toroparu gold-copper prospect.
Sandspring, last month, announced that a Toroparu gold-copper deposit mineral resource estimate indicated resources of 2,891,000 ounces of gold and 288 million pounds of copper, with an additional inferred mineral resource of 895,000 ounces of gold and 66 million pounds of copper.
Woolford said that company had expressed excitement over the prospects at Toroparu and its officials said they were looking at a mine the size of Omai.
“They are looking at getting some production going within the next five years,” he said.
Woolford said the Romanex project, at Marudi Mountain, also has the potential for large scale mining but the owners are, currently, awaiting an updated environmental authorization.
“They had one and it expired and they have to get another. My understanding is  that it is just about ready and, so, they should be mobilising in the near future, in accordance with their mines plan and environmental authorization, to begin their business at Marudi mountain,” he said.
Woolford said the local mining industry is now doing extremely well.
“The small miners have been doing well and are continuing to do well but the large operators are coming to the fore, again. The prospects are exciting. It is a very buoyant time for the mining industry in Guyana,” he maintained.
OGML, the first large scale gold mine in Guyana in recent times, produced some 3.7 million ounces of the metal before closing its operations in 2005.