With Guyana’s gold declarations, especially from small and medium scale miners, on the decline, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo today warned miners who are refusing to sell their gold to the Guyana Gold Board in keeping with regulations, that the Government will be going after them.

At a press conference, Mr. Jagdeo said the Government remains concerned about the performance of the gold-mining sector, one of Guyana’s main export earners. 

He said the Government can now confirm that many miners are not selling their gold to the Gold Board in an effort to evade taxes. 

“We believe now that we have enough evidence about some of the people who are involved and you are going to see additional activities against them and so, I am saying this to them again, if you are doing this desist from doing this because the full force of the law will be instituted against you and I would even advocate that we amend law to institute even more severe penalty to people who have done this,” the Vice President stated.

Both the Government and the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association have raised concern about illegal mining operators, who also rob the state of revenue and negatively impact gold declaration.

“But we are still very concerned about what is happening in the market and we believe there are people not selling to the gold board to avoid the taxes and we believe that it was organized and it was having an impact, because many of the legitimate dealers were saying to us that people were offering rates beyond what the market can sustain, even beyond the international prices,” Mr. Jagdeo stated. 

The Vice President said the government is aware of some of the key players who are evading taxes and law enforcement will be going after them. He said the recent gold seizure at the airport is just a tip of the iceberg of what is to come.

Earlier this week, three persons were nabbed at the Cheddi Jagan Airport attempting to smuggle more than US$500,000 of gold out of the country.

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