Guyana’s first report prepared and submitted to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) this month exposes that government agencies’ records on exports for gold and diamond were different from one another as well as from the mining companies’ records.
In fact, the document, which was prepared by the EITI Secretariat in Guyana, said that the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) do not systematically crosscheck exports data with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA)’s records to identify the potential discrepancies.
In providing examples of differences between records held by agencies, the report notes that in 2017, Troy Resources Guyana Inc. declared 66,024 oz. to GGB but only 21,077 oz. was declared to GRA. This reflects a 68 percent difference in the declaration.
To expose the irregularities in documents held by companies and government agencies, the report showed that in 2017 as well, El Dorado Trading Gold said it declared 266,006 ozt. but GGB records show that it only declared 114,017 ozt.
With respect to diamonds, the report exposed that Excel Minerals Inc. Diamond declared 6,712 carats according to GGMC files. But the company’s records are only saying that it declared 5,020 carats.
Going forward, it was recommended that both GGMC and GGB implement automated controls to ensure the comprehensiveness of the export data reported by mining companies and to develop analysis tools to ensure consistency of exports data with the production data.
It said that this may include putting in place a computerised system allowing the update and oversee of this data; collecting data from mining companies on a common and accessible IT platform for the relevant government agencies; and performing monthly control of exports data collected from various government agencies to prevent discrepancies in disclosed data.
The report notes that these improvements would help Guyana conform to the EITI Requirement 3.3 which refers to the disclosure of export data for the fiscal year, including total export volumes and the value of exports by commodity, and when relevant, by state/region of origin.
