Executive Director of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) Edward Shields has told Stabroek Business that the gold mining sector is very likely to better last year’s yield of 301,000 ounces though the industry was likely to end 2010 in a condition of concern and uncertainty.
Up to just over a week ago the total declaration was 296,000 ounces and with overall returns for December 2010 expected to exceed the 51,000 ounces mined during the same period last year. Shields said he expected the industry to top 300,000 ounces for the second consecutive year.
However, overall gold yield for 2010 which Shields said had originally been estimated at more than 500,000 ounces has been negatively impacted by what he described as “the uncertainties” afflicting the industry. Those uncertainties are linked to concerns that have arisen in the sector over government’s planned implementation of stricter environmental and other regulations which Shields said was likely to impact mostly on small miners. “Our predictions about 500,000+ ounces were made before some of the issues that have now come to the fore had arisen. What has happened is that some of the big players whom we had anticipated would invest heavily in the sector have not done so,” Shields said.
The GGDMA official told Stabroek Business that the air of uncertainty afflicting the mining sector was also linked to the fact that this year there had been no official allocation of property by either lottery or auction.
This is usually done at least four times a year. None have been held this year though it is fair to say that the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) has had to take time to address some issues pertaining to ownership of claims and to plug environmental gaps in the system,” Shields said.
Some miners have told this newspaper that the planned environmental and procedural regulations associated with the mining of gold was likely to prove costly for the sector as a whole and would impact more heavily on small miners. “I share that view. While I believe the mining is here to stay an argument can definitely be made for small miners being under treat,” Shields said.
In recent months the mining sector has also been affected by the resignation from the GGDMA presidency by Frederick Mc Wilfred amidst what some miners say is in fact a power struggle within the association. Shields said that part of the problem that led to Mc Wilfred’s resignation may be linked to his lack of familiarity with the rules of the association.
He conceded that differences had arisen between Mc Wilfred and other members of the association over his perception of how the association should be run.
Meanwhile Shields told Stabroek Business that the industry had experienced other difficulties associated with complaints regarding lack of representation. “What some miners may not understand is that the association does not represent individuals. It represents the entire industry,” Shields said.
