Introduction
Today’s column continues the discussion of Guyana’s mineral resources extractive dependence. The focus is on the gold industry. The data provided last week show that gold is comfortably Guyana’s leading mineral export. Gold exports have earned, on average, US$350 million annually, during the decade 2005-2014. These earnings were more than thrice those of the second leading mineral export ̶ bauxite, (at US$110 million annually).
Despite a distinctive upward trend in gold output, price, and earnings during the decade, the data reveal striking volatility in the behaviour of these variables, particularly price. While the prices for Guyana’s mineral exports are mainly a function of their global demand and supply, gold is distinctive, because unlike the other mineral exports, whose global demand principally
