…GGMC confirms company’s disappearing act
Troy Resources, the Australian company that at one point was one of the largest gold producers in Guyana, has exited Guyana while leaving behind billions of dollars in owed royalties.
In September, the Legal Affairs Minister had written a demand letter to Troy Resources, after its efforts to pack up shop with over $2.6 billion in royalties owed. At the time, the company was given 60 days to clear its debts.
When contacted on Monday, GGMC Commissioner Newell Dennison confirmed that Troy indeed appears to have exited the country. He referred the publication to the Natural Resources Ministry.
“This has been going on for some time and I think pronouncements have been made from time to time… I’m acknowledging that we do have an issue with Troy and that they indeed appear to have exited,” Dennison said. Meanwhile, efforts to contact Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat on the issue were futile.
Troy Resources has been operational in Guyana since 2015 and out of the 634,905 ounces of gold declared in 2019, Troy Resources as one of Guyana’s largest gold producers accounted for a large portion of it.
The company, which has its operations in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) reported production figures of 58,118 ounces of gold from its Karouni, Region Seven mine for 2019. In 2018, their gold production figure was 70,207.
It had also been announced in 2021 that the company would be partnering with Barrick Gold Corporation, a Canadian company with operations around the world. Based on the joint venture, the company was supposed to explore for gold near the Karouni mining site in Region Seven.
Barrick’s partnership with Troy Resources, though a new one, did not mean the company was actually a stranger to Guyana. Back in 2018, Barrick withdrew from Guyana after spending US$7.1 million on the Arakaka gold project, where it was in a joint venture with Alicanto Minerals.
While the partnership was signed in 2021, however, it had also been reported that year that Troy hit a snag in its preparations for what was supposed to be its first underground mine in Guyana, the Smarts Underground Prospect.
The company had announced in its market update that previous timelines for starting production at the underground site would be delayed, listing a number of underlying factors.
These factors included additional drilling being requested by the geotechnical consultants and the resource calculation, as well as a lack of contractors and service providers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In July 2021, it was announced that 80 to 85 per cent of the company’s workers would be terminated, a process that was to be concluded in two to three weeks. The representatives were asked to provide the Labour Ministry with records indicating how many workers will be affected, how many are to be paid off and other details.
A Government delegation that included Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton and Chief Labour Officer Michelle Baburam, met with the company, which was represented by General Manager Colin Connors, Human Resources Manager Samantha Latchman, Manager Michael Rodrigues, and Company Consultant Mohamed Akeel. Among the areas discussed were systems that will be implemented to recall some, if not most of the workers when normal operations resume. (
