PRESIDENT and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Guyana Goldfields Inc, Scott Caldwell, which is planning to begin commercial production of gold by the second half of next year, says that safety will be one of the company’s  highest priorities, if not the highest.

“And of course the environment,” he added.
He made the comments while briefing stakeholders in the gold mining industry on progress being achieved by the company in meeting its mid next year target.
He said that the company is installing one of the newest state-of-the art plant on the face of the earth and the method of operation will ensure that there isn’t a cyanide risk at this plant
“Things have changed a lot over the past twenty years in terms of standards in tailings dam construction. Cyanide will be destroyed before we even discharge it into the dam or into the tailings facility. There will be fish; there will be wildlife in the tailings facility. I will drink the tailings water. I have done it before I will do it again,” he said.
He disclosed that there are 500 people, men and women working at Aurora at the moment, mainly in construction.
The company is spending an average of US $20M a month and the road to and from the mine site is busy.
The Semi-Autogenous Grinding Mill (SAG ), which arrives later this month, weighing over 60 tonnes is the  heaviest load to be taken to the mine site.
The mill will be fully computerised and automated with state-of- the- art technology and environmental protection.
There will only be a few people actually running the mill as most of the workforce will be in the mines and maintaining the mill.
Work is currently ongoing on building the SAG mill foundation.
“ We have been pouring concrete every day into construction of the foundation. Our largest pour was about 450 cubic metres about a month ago and the typical  pour about 100 cubic metres of concrete per day.”
“We are getting ready to feed the mill. The mill will be ready to accept ore sometime April May next year. Commercial production targeted three to four months after.”
The mill will grind rocks down to a powder; leach the powder with cyanide so the gold is dissolved and retrieve the gold using carbon.

THE COMPANY WILL SHIP GOLD BARS

It is planning to double the mill size in a couple of years from a 5,000-tonne a day processor to a 10,000-tonne a day mill .
Caldwell said that the company was hoping that the price of gold goes up but if it doesn’t the operation is low cost and the company will still be able to make some money and stay in business.
The company anticipates a mine life of at least seventeen years in the form of an open pit mine transitioning to an underground mine.
He added that the company feels that the size of the gold deposit at Aurora is quite large so that it may quite possibly lead to a mine life of between 30 to 35 years.
He said that the goal of the company is to be a Guyanese mine run by Guyanese.
“We buy what we can locally; we employ as many people as we can locally; and we give back to the community in lots of different initiatives to add to the sustainability of the project.”
The company is working with the Georgetown Technical Institute (GTI) as it moves into operations to acquire youths trained in skills such as welding and electrical work.
He said that apart from the direct employment and indirect employment benefits, the royalty and income tax to be paid to the Government of Guyana, should be a significant contributor to the local economy  for many years to come.

(By Clifford Stanley)