One of the major reasons cited by the government for low gold production is the unwillingness of small and medium-scale miners to move away from alluvial mining and invest in other forms that may well be more lucrative.
As such, authorities are working with miners to help them increase their recovery rate which has consistently been too low, at around 35/40 percent.
At his recent mid-year press conference at the Guyana Forestry Commission in Kingston, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat spoke about the important role that the forestry and mining sectors play in the country’s economy.
Apart from the miners’ unwillingness to move away from alluvial mining, perhaps because of the expensive equipment involved, gold production has been affected by other factors such as significant flooding in major mining districts, drought, and miners working the same properties over and over.
According to him, the sectors combined employ over 50,000 Guyanese, directly or indirectly.
“The GFC has been doing an excellent job in managing our forest. We can boast even though we have a vibrant forestry sector that we have one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world.”
Over the past few years, the country has seen over 100 new sawmills, and over 50 new lumber yards; Linden alone has seen an increase from about five in 2020 to about 19 presently.
The mining sector has also seen exponential increases in sand production, loom, and bauxite. “Bauxite is set to rebound. It has been on a decline for a while, especially after the closure of Rusal in the Berbice area,” Minister Bharrat noted.
