Local content is relatively high in the operations of the Canadian-owned Aurora Gold Mines (AGM) with most of its senior managers, contractors and sub-contractors being Guyanese and the majority of its purchases being local says its senior managers on the Cuyuni River site. The managers of Guyana Goldfields Inc – the operator of the Aurora mine – made their observations in the backdrop of claims that the company was not giving back to the country in relation to the fiscal concessions granted to it and that local content in its operations was low.
Meanwhile, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman told the managers and the media at the AGM camp site last week Wednesday that Government “is going to start examining the gold sector primarily to see whether the value or volume of concessions, given to companies like Aurora Gold Mines, is in keeping with a rate of return that is commensurate with what Government is offering. To whom much is given much is expected”
Trotman was accompanied by Minister in the Ministry of Finance Jaipaul Sharma. Sharma is also Chairman of the Economic Services Committee of Parliament which is currently running a number of advertisements in relation to hearings on the issue.
