Above: drilling at Sardine Mountain (Photo: Guyana Frontier)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Gold production, declaration and sales have totaled 314,000 ounces to date in 2012, a 23 percent increase over the same time period in 2011, according to Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud.

“We have seen declaration and sales going up, sales to the Guyana Gold Board as well as to the private dealers,” he said, pointing out that gold exports were at a similar level.

“The sector is recording good performance,” he said. “The sector has been doing well and has been creating a tremendous impact on our national growth and the economy as a whole.”

Indeed, Guyana’s booming natural resources production was mentioned by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean as separating its economy, and that of neighbouring Suriname, from the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean.

Persaud said his Ministry was making progress on the establishment of a mining school, which would increase the number of specialized, skilled workers in Guyana’s mining sector.

The Geo-Sciences Department at the University of Texas is looking to provide support for the creation of the school, he said.

“There is a lot of preparation taking place, and we do hope that, very soon, we will be able to make available programmes at the school,” Persaud said.