THE Guyana Gold Board yesterday responded to the concerns of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), which is contending that the Board seems intent on criminalising the entire mining industry.
“(The Board) denounces any effort to impute motives that these ongoing examinations are a matter of criminalisation,” it said in a statement.The Guyana Gold Board made it clear that its current outreach follows representation by the GGDMA and other stakeholders for the need to ensure that the Guyana Gold Board Act and other related legal provisions are complied with by those involved in gold trading and the wider mining sectors.
The exchange follows contentions in some sections that there may be a level of “gold hoarding” taking place, owing to the fall in prices for gold. President Donald Ramotar himself had surmised that this could be the case, given the drastic reduction in the gold declaration in the past few months, compared to a similar period last year.
The GGDMA holds a contrary view, that it is not a case of non-declaration, but one of low production.
“Production and declaration must go hand in hand, and miners cannot declare gold they have not won. Despite an earlier position that the gold declaration was below production, miners have now seen documentation that proves the contrary, and hence the decision to conduct a more in-depth study of production figures,” the GGDMA said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Guyana Gold Board has since underscored the fact that the Association itself has “emphatically” called for the mining industry to improve their level of declarations.
The Board said, “It must be recalled that on June 4, 2014, at a meeting with stakeholders of the gold mining sector, the GGDMA emphasised that there must be more monitoring and enforcement of the mining regulations by both the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and GGB.
“In addition, the executive members of the GGDMA, including the President of the Association, stated that the GGB must undertake more monitoring of all stakeholders of the gold mining sector, which is in accordance with the Guyana Gold Board Act of 1981.”
To this end, the Guyana Gold Board clarified that its activities include the verification of all licenced gold dealers for 2014 and the details of the records by dealers corresponding to the GGB records.
“Moreover, all licenced dealers are subject to conditions which states that (a) for each dealer, the Board shall undertake periodic reconciliation between purchases made, holdings, and sales to the Board and (b) every dealer shall permit a duly authorised officer to enter the premises of the authorised dealer at reasonable times to inspect records. These activities are being done in accordance with the GGB Act which has never been questioned as to its relevance in governing the modern gold mining sector,” the Board said.
The body stressed its recognition of the importance of miners, dealers and other stakeholders of the gold sector to the national economy.
The GGB has been mandated by the Board of Directors and the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment to ensure full stakeholders collaboration in fulfilling its obligations for the betterment of the gold trading sector and the wider mining community.
Chairman of the Guyana Gold Board, Gobin Ganga, in a prior comment on the matter, noted that Guyana has lost about US$100M in foreign exchange and approximately $1.5B less in royalty and taxes. Ganga has said that the GGB was expecting between, 40,000 to 50,000 ounces of gold thus far for the year, but this has not been the case.
Additionally, according to Bloomberg, a top information source for financial and business matters, gold traded near a four-month low. Up to yesterday, gold traded between a low of US$1,268.30 and a high of US$1,275.10 per ounce. Gold prices were steady at US$1,400 per ounce for most of June, 2013. At the start of January 2014, the price was US$1,225 per ounce of gold.
Written By Vanessa Narine