President orders immediate action to ensure gold miners fully compliant

President Irfaan Ali today met with the leadership of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) at State House and directed that immediate action be taken to ensure that all gold miners fully comply with their obligations to declare all gold produced in 2025.

Further, all registered dredges with no declaration will be deregistered, and all foreign miners operating illegally in Guyana must be identified for prosecution and expulsion, a release from the Office of the President said. It was also noted that some Brazilian miners operating in Guyana have had very low or no declarations. These miners have 24 hours to comply fully with the laws of Guyana and the requirement to declare to the Guyana Gold Board, the release added.

The Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association and the Ministry of Natural Resources will also be working together to ensure that all miners in every category operating in Guyana are registered with the Ministry, and further, that they all have a local bank account.

GGDMA President, Ronaldo Alphonso, said he is urging the mining public to be compliant and to sell their gold to legitimate sources to sustain the mining sector for generations to come.

“It is our responsibility as miners to ensure the sustainability of the industry. We need to make it compliant, and we need to declare gold. Make 2026 the year of compliance and declaration,” Alphonso said, according to the release.

Smuggling and under-declaration of gold have been persistent problems and despite measures taken by various governments it has continued.