South African firm to visit Guyana as Gov’t explores possibility of gold refinery

Representatives of a South African firm are expected to visit Guyana in the coming days to “strongly” explore the possibility of setting up a gold refinery here, Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman announced Friday.

The company, named South African Precious Metals, specialises in the manufacturing of precious metal fine chemicals as well as the refining of precious metals.

Trotman told a news conference that the Government has already received a number of proposals from foreign and international companies from as far as Dubai, the United States and Canada to set up a processing plant for gold in Guyana.

According to the Natural Resources Minister, “we need to move from just burning raw gold and shipping it out and having it refined out of Guyana.”

Minister Trotman said the refinery could either be established through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) or fully financed by the government.

Guyana currently exports all of its raw gold which amounts to roughly 600,000 ounces annually.