Gold declarations at 475,202 ozs

-export earnings up

The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) yesterday said that gold declarations as at September 29, 2017 stand at 475,202 ounces and small and medium scale miners are responsible for the lion’s share.

The target set for 2017 is 700,000 ounces and the predictions are for higher production and declarations in the last quarter of 2017 as is customary, MNR said. Further, recent declarations of enhanced production by Guyana Goldfields Inc. bolsters the view that economic stability and world market prices are driving higher production.

Of 2017’s year-to-date total, small and medium scale miners produced 309,787 ounces while the two large mining operations Guyana Goldfields and Troy Resources produced 117,002 ounces and 48,412 respectively.

Total export earnings as at September 29, 2017 stood at US$603,980,775 compared with US $575,869,243 for the same period last year.

The Ministry of Natural Resources congratulated all miners.

“We continue to implore all miners to declare their gold to the Guyana Gold Board or to licenced gold dealers. The Government … is committed to working with miners to ensure that their issues are addressed as together we work to surpass 2016’s record production of 713,000 ounces”, MNR said.

For the last year, small and medium-scale miners have expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s treatment of the sector.