Oct 12, 2025
Editorial, News

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(Kaieteur News) – Foreign investors have a new vocabulary to describe Guyana’s rich natural resources.  They could come from the US, or Canada, or Asia, and the language is the same.  The rich natural resources of Guyana are either “world class”, or “crown jewels”, or in a ‘class by themselves’ so fabulous the finds, and what could be still more finds in abundant quantities.  The discovery of oil approximately 190 kilometers from shore brought out the superlatives from some of ExxonMobil’s top executives from time to time.  The oil wealth of Guyana is so great that the captains of ExxonMobil cannot believe their good fortune, and the delight that accompanies their visions.

It is the same tale with Guyana’s great troves of gold in the remote interior.  The Oko gold project has executives of the Canadian mining firm, G2 Goldfields (G2) virtually drooling with excitement.  G2 succeeded in obtaining two large-scale gold prospecting licenses from the PPPC Government, as announced by the company on August 28.  What was so important that those licenses couldn’t wait until after the elections?  Why they had to be signed and sealed in the last week before the general and regional elections?  What bargain had to be inked between the gold company and the PPPC Government, regardless of the appearance of the issuance of the two gold prospecting licenses so close to the elections?  Was it that the fear of a new government taking office necessitated that those prospecting licenses be approved, no matter how improper it looked?

G2 had every right to push for those licenses to secure its own interests.  But the Guyana Government was under no urgent deadline, no compelling circumstances, that required those prospecting licenses be approved when they were.  How much difference would a few more weeks matter, or what was at stake so vital that nothing could be left to chance?  The Oko Gold Project involves well over a million ounces of gold and, interestingly, replaces 11 medium-scale mining permits held by Guyanese businesspeople.  What went on there, were they bought out?  Or were they forced to relinquish their mining permits, and have no choice but to stay quiet, in the hope of keeping on the right side of the government?

We think that when 1.5 million ounces of gold is part of the potential of a gold project, then prudence has to prevail, and not this haste to issue prospecting licenses.  G2’s CEO, Dan Noone, followed in the footsteps of the American oil giants, when he noted that the approvals of those prospecting license open up a pathway to exploit Guyana’s “world-class gold system.”  And, “we are well-positioned to unlock the full potential of this highly prospective gold district…”  It is all that Guyanese hear or read about in terms of their natural resource wealth.  How wonderful it is, and how much it means to the foreign investors.  Of course, there is always a neat little line about partnering with the Guyana Government for the benefit of Guyanese.  That’s a formality, part of covering the bases, and ensuring that the foreign investor company looks good on paper.

Since these gold finds and goldfield potential are so rich, it surprises that Guyanese are in the dark about what they are getting for their “world-class” mineral resources and systems, be it for their oil, their gold, their bauxite, or their other piles of wealth.  World-class wealth and crown jewels should generate high levels of income for Guyana’s coffers, if those verbal nuggets are going to mean anything for the true owners of the wealth, Guyanese.  Though the ExxonMobil oil contract is in a category of horrible all by itself, Guyanese can still say that they know what they are receiving for the millions of barrels of oil pumped monthly.  It defies reason that the same cannot be said for goldfields with estimated production over a million ounces over the life of a project.

That could be responsible for the secrecy?  Why should Guyanese be left in the dark with the returns from their wealth?  With an old government returning for a new term of office, it cannot be the same ancient ways of hidden deals.  Or whatever side arrangements may be at work.

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