While Guyana is well known for its gold, diamond, timber and, in recent years, its oil resources, a lesser-known fact is that Guyana is sitting on $37.6 billion worth of silica sand resources – from which is derived the material to make cell phone and solar energy farm components.
The value of this potential resource was touched on by President Dr Irfaan Ali, during the International Energy Conference and Expo held at the Marriott Hotel last week. President Ali was at the time highlighting Guyana’s rich natural resources in a pitch to foreign and domestic investors.
“Our silica sand reserves are estimated at 1.5 billion tonnes, valued conservatively at $37.5 billion. I’m just positioning this, so you can understand the Guyana we are speaking of. And this has always been,” President Ali said.
“We never had the capital or the resources to build the diversified economy that we’re talking about. We’ve always spoken of the promises and the dreams and aspirations, of generations of Guyanese. Today, with hard work and simplicity and humility, we have the ability to make that giant leap not only for Guyana but for all of humanity. And we must do it.”
Guyana is blessed in other areas. According to the President, there are an estimated US$35 billion in gold reserves, US$1 billion in quarrying reserves and US$750 million in diamond reserves. He also spoke of the potency of Guyana’s agricultural investment potential, including the ability to tap into the food processing markets and benefit from the viable land for poultry, dairy and cattle production. There is also Guyana’s forestry sector.
“We can sustainably harvest one million cubic metres per year, at present we harvest 400,000 cubic metres (of timber) valued at US$80 million a year. The sector presents opportunities for large scale downstream processing, prefab housing, prime value-added species for niche markets, partnering with environmental services, reforestation programmes and forest plantation, all linked to new emerging and potential markets,” the President added.
President Ali also spoke of the country’s tremendous potential in the adventure tourism and golfing industries, considering the wide expanse of eco-tourism locations and available land.
Guyana has over the past year been canvassed by various investors seeking opportunities in a number of industries. It was only earlier this month that a group of United Kingdom (UK) based businesses were in the country exploring investment opportunities in a variety of sectors that could see millions of dollars in investments being injected into the Guyanese economy.
The “British Business Mission” had conducted a four-day visit to Guyana during which they networked with both local Private Sector and Government officials as they scope out opportunities for potential investments. The delegation was hosted by London-based The Caribbean Council, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the British High Commission’s Department for International Trade.
At a press conference held as they wrapped up their visit, Managing Director of The Caribbean Council, Chris Bennett outlined that some of the projects that are being floated would see multimillion-dollar investments being made here.
In fact, to further strengthen ties, GCCI and The Caribbean Council during the press conference signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for future collaboration between the two organisations.
Moreover, representative of Signature, Counsel Bernhard Maier spoke about the vast need for arbitration services in Guyana not just at the Private Sector level but also at a State level.
The representatives from the Scottish headquartered Woolard & Henry Ltd talked about potentially setting up a basalt and glass fibre plant in Guyana to cater for the massive infrastructure growth by replacing steel with basalt materials. He said there has been positive response to this.
Another company that also saw success in its discussions so far is Dar Group, which specialises in engineering, designing and project management services. Managing Director Andrew Loudon said there is vast opportunities to tap into with Government’s Silica City project.
