THE Guyana Gold Board will commence mobile purchasing of gold in various communities as it seeks to not only maximise its gold declarations by year end, but also ensure compliance with the country’s anti-money laundering law.

The first stop of this mobile gold purchasing initiative is the town of Mahdia, Region Eight. The Guyana Gold Board will set up a temporary operations centre on the ground floor of the Region Eight Regional Guest House.

It is envisaged that the gold purchasing exercise will be conducted on a bi-weekly basis in Mahdia. The gold board also plans to visit a number of other gold mining communities including Puruni, Lethem and other parts of Region Nine as well as communities such as Imbaimadai and Port Kaituma, among others.

Guyana Gold Board Public Affairs and Communications Officer, Johann Earle, pointed out that the exercise is in no way meant to encroach on the business of the authorised gold dealers.

“We have renewed the licences of eight gold dealers for 2019. They operate as our agents. However, for those miners who want to benefit from some of the advantages of doing business with the Guyana Gold Board, we are simply offering them a chance to do so,” Earle said.

He added that many small miners find it challenging to travel all the way to the Guyana Gold Board locations in Georgetown and Bartica with small amounts of gold to sell.

Earle is urging especially small miners to take advantage of the opportunity of selling their gold to the Guyana Gold Board, where they will be assured of fair prices and just weights.

“We pay according to the London Bullion Market Association which issues two daily fixes: a morning fix and an afternoon fix. In addition to this, our scales are all calibrated and certified by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards,” he said.

With regard to mercury concerns, Earle assured that the board has taken steps to ensure that there is no threat of mercury emissions during the gold purchasing exercises.

“This is a good opportunity to remind the public that the Guyana Gold Board does not use mercury in its operations. However, ‘raw gold’ comes to us with mercury in it as part of the amalgam process after it is mined, and when we burn the gold, as required to establish its authenticity, the mercury can be released. To prevent the mercury from escaping however, we use a mercury abatement system,” he said.

For the purpose of the mobile buying exercise, the Guyana Gold Board fabricated a miniature mercury abatement system. This system has been tested and is functioning as it was designed to.

Earle said according to the feedback the board has received, miners and residents of Mahdia are calling for the semi-autonomous regulatory agency to establish a permanent home there. However, because of the lack of a commercial bank, a permanent gold board office will not be possible at this time.