More than 95% of the blocks of mining lands put up for auction last week by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) were snatched up over the four days that the auction lasted with bids reaching into the millions of dollars.
Bids started out at $60,000. Over 950 out of the 1,000 blocks of medium scale properties up for bid were auctioned out as of Thursday. The effort to distribute the mining lands were to improve the diminishing gold declarations and to increase the transparency of land distribution to promote development of the sector, according to the GGMC.
The GGMC is also set to distribute 1000 more blocks via a lottery starting today at four locations simultaneously. The lottery drawing system is set to be hosted in Georgetown at the Girls Guides Pavilion, on Brickdam, at Port Kaituma, Mahdia and Bartica. It will see persons who have applied for blocks of mining lands having their names placed into one bag and randomly pulled by individuals present while the blocks available will be placed in a separate bag and pulled randomly by persons present at the draw.
When Stabroek News spoke to GGMC Commissioner, Rickford Vieira, he said that the commission was preparing for the lottery
