Gold declarations by small and medium scale miners continue to decline

Gold declarations, especially from small and medium scale miners, continue to decline even after several interventions by the authorities.

Last month, the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) raised an alarm over the issue saying that the industry has been hit by a labour shortage driven by the demand for labour in the construction and oil and gas sector.

Both the Government and the GGDMA in recent times have raised concern about illegal mining operators which also rob the state of revenue and negatively impact gold declaration.

In its half year report, the Finance Ministry highlighted the drop in gold declaration.

“The gold mining subsector suffered a decline in the first half of the year, contracting by 11.4 percent, due to lower declarations from the small- and medium-scale miners. At the end of June, gold declarations stood at 209,756 ounces, compared with 236,728 ounces during the same period last year,” the Finance Ministry stated.
According to the report, gold declarations from a single large scale producer expanded by 6.1 percent year-on-year, but that was outweighed by lower declarations from the small- and medium-scale producers.

Declarations from the small and medium scale producers fell from 188,956 ounces in the first half of 2022 to 159,084 ounces at the end of June this year. However, the Finance Ministry said that due to strengthened enforcement efforts and other interventions, the gold mining sub-sector is now projected to grow by 5.3 percent in 2023.

On the other hand, the Ministry noted that the other mining and quarrying sub-sector – comprising sand, stone, diamonds, and manganese –have expanded by 45.2 percent in the first half of the year.

Sand and stone declarations are estimated to have grown by 52.6 percent and 71.7 percent, respectively, largely supported by construction activity.

On the downside, diamond declarations fell 21.2 percent in the first half of the year to 38,068 metric carats. Similarly, manganese production has also declined by 21.9 percent.