GUYANA Goldstrike Inc. has announced that some 910 ounces (ozs) of gold has been mined and recovered by local small-scale alluvial miners on the Marudi Gold Project, which raked in over US$1M in sales.
“We are very proud of our accomplishments over such a short period of time,” President and CEO, Peter Berdusco, said in a statement. He added: “With the full support of the government and the local communities, the artisanal miners now have the opportunity to create income in an environment that adheres to acceptable mining practices.” “Further to this, it allows us to immediately generate sales from alluvial areas that generally fall outside our potential mining model or area of interest. This definitely makes it a win-win for everyone involved.”
Through a cooperative agreement, small miners have been given company-controlled access with company oversight to work the alluvial areas (creeks, edges and new channels) of the property and, also the alluvial tailings that had been previously mined by artisanal miners. The company said a stipulation of the agreement is the requirement that the small miners incorporate only those mining practices acceptable to the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) of Guyana. As a result of their efforts the company has successfully poured its first dore bars and sold those bars to the Guyana Gold Board.

Under the agreement the small miners pay the company a 10 percent royalty on all gold mined from the property. In the five months ending March 31, the small miners recovered approximately 910 ozs of gold from mineralised material mined from the property’s alluvial areas and artisanal alluvial tailings. This resulted in 90.9 ozs/Au paid to Guyana Goldstrike in royalties. Company staff and security monitor the activities of the artisanal miners.
The company said it sold its 90.9 ozs/Au to the Guyana Gold Board for a price of 1266.45/ozs and for a net sale of US$106,490.00 USD after smelting costs and a five percent royalty, which was paid to the Government of Guyana. The gold was assayed at 97 percent purity. This alluvial mining activity is expected to continue following the end of the rainy season in June. The decision to allow artisanal miners to commence small scale mining on alluvial areas of the property was a decision solely based on corporate social responsibility. The mining of gold from the property by the artisanal miners has not been based on a feasibility study, nor are there any mineral resources or reserves identified in the area which is subject to the artisanal mining. The decision to mine is one made by the artisanal miners and the company acknowledges that there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with the actions of the artisanal miners.
The Marudi Gold Project, a permitted mining license consisting of approximately 13,500 hectares, is located 230 kilometres (Km) from the town of Lethem in southern Guyana. The property has good infrastructure with all season road access mainly through open savannah. The property was acquired in 1998 by Vanessa Ventures from Sutton Resources/Barrick, and then further acquired by Guyana Frontier Mining where the project was partially funded by Teck Resources.