The main opposition, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party believes the digitalization of the compliance system within the Gold Mining Industry would increase compliance, declarations, and the ease of doing business, particularly among small and medium scale miners.

WIN Member of Parliament, Dr Andre Lewis said the announcement by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) in January that it suspended the gold mining operations for 107 Brazilian nationals is an indication that there are challenges with regards to compliance.

The announcement by the GGMC was made less than a week after it demanded that all gold miners in Guyana comply with regulations to declare all gold produced for 2025.

Dr Lewis, on Friday, said declarations could be improved significantly, once the bureaucracies are removed, and miners are able to make their declaration from their camp sites.

“While mining regulation is necessary, it is often the small and medium scale miners who face the blunt of the pressure. Many of them operate remotely with not so much of the ease of banking that we have on the coastline, gold board offices, or government services. The paper work, travel and reporting requirements can be costly and difficult and WIN believes that the Government and the Ministry of Natural Resources should urgently improve services offered to small and medium scale miners and roll out a digital compliance system to make the declarations, payments and record keeping a bit easier for all. While we understand that there are many digital platforms being rolled out by the Government to make services accessible to people throughout the country, perhaps digital systems for compliance could also be applicable in the industry,” the WIN MP said.

The Gold Mining Industry, according to the Government, expanded by 11.6% with total gold declarations reaching 484,321 ounces in 2025. However, Dr Lewis has questioned the accuracy of the Government’s declarations.

The WIN MP said he suspects that the numbers were inflated to show that the sector is doing well. WIN contends that a significant portion of Guyana’s gold is being smuggled, and the gold declaration announced by the Government is not a true reflection of the industry’s performance.

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