MOMENTS before unveiling a plaque on the top floor of the  Charity Mall at Charity, Essequibo Coast, yesterday, to officially declare a branch of the Guyana Gold Board (G.G.B) open, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment (MNRE), Mr. Robert Persaud, stressed  that the ministry will not tolerate any business or enterprise that participates in illegality of any kind.

His declaration is a reiteration of the Government of Guyana’s zero tolerance policy towards gold smuggling.
Persaud stressed that we must concentrate on the positive, citing as an example an editorial in a daily paper which sought to stigmatize the industry. He said the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) has always exercised compliance with the law from a social and environmental standpoint, and noted that when we talk and think of mining, we must not conjure up any image of law- breaking.
Continuing, he pointed out that Guyana has one of the most comprehensive bodies of regulations as relates to mining, going back to the late 1800s, and which is  constantly updated and reviewed.
Persaud asserted that every miner or producer in Guyana knows that he has a legal responsibility to dispose of gold to authorised dealers or the Gold Board. He reminded that persons who flout these regulations, even a producer who has to have a mining licence, could have their licences revoked for not complying and persons who are engaged in illicit trading can be jailed for up to 30 years.
The minister noted that the launch of the Charity branch was even more special in light of it coinciding with the anniversary of H.E President Donald Ramotar’s first year in office, noting that he must be proud that another of his commitments has been honoured, as the establishment came after discussions with the president during which it was noted that persons coming out of the interior did not have easy access to safely  sell their gold.
The establishing of the Charity branch of the Guyana Gold Board follows reports in the local and international media of a Guyana fishing vessel which was reportedly robbed of 470 pounds of raw gold, valued U.S. $11.5 million, upon arrival in Curacao last Friday morning. The ministry has also been seeking to work with Suriname, Brazil and Venezuela to reduce all forms of illegal trading in minerals and will continue to work with all stakeholders of the gold industry to ensure that more stringent measures are implemented and enforced to ensure the legal trading of Guyana’s gold is maintained.
In response to these reports, Persaud noted that we must be on the alert and we must be proactive as a multinational syndicate is at work. The minister called on miners to support the office noting that the ministry was taking a business risk.
He noted that we should be proud of the achievements of the mining sector as a whole, particularly the gold sub-sector. He said that if we look across the mining community, we can see the transformation that is taking place, pointing out that one only had to move along the coast to see the effect that mining was having on the coast and the transformation of  people’s lives. The branch at Charity is currently staffed with employees from the Georgetown branch but it will be staffed by local people in the near future.