Raft of measures announced to boost gold declaration

From left: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, Joslyn McKenzie, Chairman of the Board of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Clinton Williams, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud and GGMC’s Commissioner, Rickford Vieira during the press conference. (GINA photo)

Gold declaration is still down for the year so far – 16% up to this month – and Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Robert Persaud has announced a series of measures aimed at reversing the decline.

From left: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, Joslyn McKenzie, Chairman of the Board of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Clinton Williams, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud and GGMC’s Commissioner, Rickford Vieira during the press conference. (GINA photo)
From left: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, Joslyn McKenzie, Chairman of the Board of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Clinton Williams, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud and GGMC’s Commissioner, Rickford Vieira during the press conference. (GINA photo)

Stakeholders and observers have stated that the decrease might be due to hoarding and reduced production owing to the dip in gold price but when asked about the latter yesterday, the minister said, “We have not accepted or unaccepted any factor because we are still working with the mining communities to determine some of the contributing factors.”

The decline in declarations has worried the government as gold has been the major driver of the economy in recent years and is a key source of foreign exchange. Earlier this year, the declaration level was down by 20%.

President Donald Ramotar had said that it was his government’s view that the shortage in declarations was due to hoarding of the precious metal by miners.

However, industry insiders have rebuffed government’s position saying instead