In a strongly worded statement this afternoon, the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) and the Guyana Women Miner’s Organisation (GWMO) issued a call on the government to “immediately remove from consideration the idiotic proposal to force local gold miners to accept 3% less than the world market price for gold produced.”
The two groups said no miner, under any circumstance will support this proposal and the two associations are united in this position.
According to the two associations, the government “is seriously considering a scheme which would force small and medium scale gold miners to sell their gold for 3% less than the world market price to the Guyana Gold Board. At current market prices miners will lose $8,000 for every ounce of gold sold. This is a move to ensure that the incompetent and mismanaged Guyana Gold Board stays afloat. We the miners, see this as another move designed to cripple local small and medium scale miners in a continued move by the current administration to miniaturize the local sector. The foreign companies, who mainly export their gold won, will be exempt from this proposal.”
The release added that it is a fact that the Gold Board, due to mismanagement, lost over 10 billion of tax payer dollars during the period of 2012 to 2014 “and now the government want miners to subsidise this failing institution”.
The current government came to office in 2015.
But according to the mining bodies, buying gold from local miners at the fixed world market prices has been the norm for the Guyana Gold Board and Gold Dealers in Guyana for over 20 years and if the Guyana Gold Board cannot run its operations and be profitable, in contrast to the privately licensed dealers, then it should cease operations immediately.
“We demand an immediate halt to this proposal and a commitment from the Government of Guyana that they are serious about meaningful consultations”, the groups made clear.
The GGDMA and the GWMO will be meeting with miners across Guyana to inform them about the impending changes and to discuss how it will affect their livelihood. An outreach program is planned and will commence next week.
News Source made repeated efforts to get a comment from officials of the Guyana Gold Board. The Gold Board’s General Manager said inquiries should go to the Public Relations Department of the Natural Resources Ministry.
The gold mining sector has been shining over the past two years and is set to record its best year in over a decade, this year.
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