-directive given to identify, prosecute, remove all illegal foreign miners
PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali on Friday urged all gold miners to make the full declaration of gold produced in 2025, adding that registered dredges with no declaration will be deregistered, while illegal foreign miners must be identified for prosecution and expulsion.
These issues were raised by the President during a meeting with the leadership of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) at State House.
“During the meeting, the President directed that immediate action be taken to ensure that all gold miners fully comply with their obligations to declare all gold produced in 2025.
“Further, all registered dredges with no declaration will be deregistered, and all foreign miners operating illegally in Guyana must be identified for prosecution and expulsion. It was also noted that some Brazilian miners operating in Guyana have had very low or no declarations. These miners have 24 hours to comply fully with the laws of Guyana and the requirement to declare to the Guyana Gold Board,” a post on the President’s Facebook page said.
Additionally, it was stated that the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association and the Ministry of Natural Resources will be working together to ensure that all miners in every category operating in Guyana are registered with the ministry, and further, that they all have a local bank account.
Meanwhile, GGDMA President Ronaldo Alphonso said he is urging the mining public to be compliant and to sell their gold to legitimate sources to sustain the mining sector for generations to come.
“It is our responsibility as miners to ensure the sustainability of the industry. We need to make it compliant, and we need to declare gold. Make 2026 the year of compliance and declaration,” Alphonso said according to the post.
Last month, President Ali had said that his government would pursue and shut down delinquent operators who continue to exploit state incentives while failing to declare their gold.
According to the Ministry of Finance’s mid-year report, gold declaration is up by 10.9 per cent this year, but Dr Ali stressed that this remains below the government’s expectations.
He had emphasised then that miners who profit from the sector have a legal responsibility to accurately declare their gold, reminding them that this duty is “not by choice, but by law.”
The President added that the government intends to overhaul systems that have enabled chronic under-declaration and illegal exports, stating that the state must stop facilitating “those kinds of people.”
One gold smuggler alone stole more than $190 billion from the Guyanese economy, he had disclosed.
