It took less than a year for a new industrial gold mine project to gain attention in Guyana. In May 2019, the government rejected the controversial Golden Mountain project ; in April 2020, a project of comparable scale already worried those who mobilized against the industrial extraction of gold. It is called Hope, from the name of the site where it is located in western Guyana, about ten kilometers from the Maroni River, the border with Suriname and the living area of tens of thousands of inhabitants. Purpose of the operation: the extraction of twenty million m3 rocks to dig a pit 300 meters deep, 1.5 km long for a first deposit valued at 65 tonnes of gold.
In Guyana, there are many projects to exploit primary gold deposits. Mining groups prepare “ the big clearance sale “ of the territory, at more or less advanced stages. It is often their visit to the departmental mining commission that highlights their level of advancement. This specifically Guyanese body is supposed to meet every month to give advisory opinions on mining files, after instruction by the State services and before opinion of the prefect, who transmits it to the ministries of Ecological and Solidarity Transition and the ‘Economy, in charge of mines.
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- The deposit is located near the Maroni River.
In full containment, the prefecture convened the mines commission to examine the request for the extension of a concession belonging to the Hope Mining Company ((CME). The investigation file of the Directorate General for Territories and the Sea revealed an interesting fact: for this project, CME, a local company owned by the Ostorero family and established in Guyana for thirty years, has established a partnership with an American gold giant, Newmont, the world’s leading producer of yellow metal in 2018. The latter wishes to explore more in detail a deposit identified by the CME with a view to operating by 2025.
Mining files almost always receive favorable opinions
After a last-minute cancellation from the mines committee, the meeting was finally held by videoconference two weeks later, on April 29. The file obtained a favorable opinion for a ten-year renewal, where the mining company Espérance and Newmont asked for 25. This extension must still be the subject of a decree of the Council of State. “ It’s always like this “, regrets a member of the Mines Commission. “ Opponents of mining projects are still in the minority. We vote but we sometimes wonder what this is for. “ Mining representatives sit on the Commission, including Carol Ostorero, who heads the Mining Company Hope, and chairs the Federation of Mining Operators of Guyana. Mme Ostorero runs several Guyanese companies involved in the transportation of construction site equipment and gold, one of which is currently on trial for suspected environmental pollution. But mining contractors only get three votes in the mining commission. If the mining files receive almost always favorable opinions, it is thanks to the support of the local elected representatives and the representatives of the State, without which the balance of power could switch on the side of the environmental organizations and the indigenous populations, generally opposed to the projects. miners, who also have representatives on the commission.
This vote for a project now stamped “ Golden mountain bis “ caused an outcry. Three days after the commission, the collective Question gold, formed almost four years ago to fight the Golden Mountain project, held a press conference in Cayenne to reiterate its opposition to megamines. The metropolitan media widely picked up the news, forcing the Minister for Ecological Transition Élisabeth Borne to write a tweet saying that she would oppose “ to any project that does not take into account our environmental requirements “, endorsing the expression forged by his predecessor François de Rugy about Montagne d’or. On May 23, 2019, after the first ecological defense council and three days before the European elections, he spoke of “ the incompatibility of the current project with the requirements of environmental protection “. Except that a year after this widely publicized release, it is difficult to know what this formula actually means.
What are the environmental requirements of France in terms of mining in the Guyanese context ? New “ mine delegate – coordinator for mining projects “ with the prefect of Guyana did not provide us with answers. Since his appointment in September 2019, Didier Le Moine, former director of industry, mines and energy in New Caledonia has, to our knowledge, avoided any media confrontation. The creation of this position responsible for “ promotion and [du] development of a responsible industrial mining sector “ however, shows the state’s interest in the subject.
MEPs want to ban use of cyanide
Questioned by Reporterre, the Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition kicked in. The concession renewal request made by the CME and Newmont is “ a procedure prior to the work authorization request and does not involve environmental consideration at this stage “ replies the ministry. “ It is during the review of these work authorizations that compatibility with environmental issues will be judged. Particularly exemplary compliance will be expected with respect to the avoid-reduce-compensate sequence in order to ensure the preservation of biodiversity and primary forest issues. “ The ministry therefore does not close the door to the industrial exploitation of gold from Guyana in the form of an open-cast megamine requiring the use of cyanidation. This is what the Golden Mountain project planned and what Hope should look like.
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- The day goes down on the Guyanese forest, in Saul.
“ Our environmental requirements would be to ban cyanide “, says Fabien Gay, communist senator of Seine-Saint-Denis and bearer of a bill to this effect. “ If we prohibit the use of cyanide, then in fact the megamins will no longer be profitable “explains the chosen one. He has just addressed a question to the Minister of Ecological and Inclusive Transition regarding his intentions regarding cyanide and the Espérance mining project. This bill is unlikely to arrive on the agenda of a majority right-wing Senate where the parliamentary niches of the Communist Party are extremely rare. “ Citizen support should be more massive “, says Fabien Gay. Guyanese MP Gabriel Serville, from the Democratic and Republican Left group (GDR), for its part tabled in the National Assembly a motion for a resolution to ban cyanide. He hopes to adopt this measure as an amendment as part of the reform of the Mining Code, which was announced for … end of 2019. If Gabriel Serville now hopes for 2021, Fabien Gay fears that it will not “ fall into oblivion “. Given the number of aborted attempts, this would not be surprising. The Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition recognizes at most that “ reform timetables are impacted by the health crisis “ and “ being failed “.
Via local companies, multinationals are eyeing Guyana’s subsoil
In the meantime, cyanidation has already entered Guyana. This process of producing primary gold makes it possible to recover the few grams of the coveted metal per tonne of rocks reduced to powder under the action of very energy-consuming crushers. In March 2020, the company AMG (Auplata Mining Group) was pleased to have melted its first ingot obtained by cyanidation on the site of Dieu Merci, 120 kilometers as the crow flies from Cayenne, before shutting down the factory for the time of confinement.
With the exception of a pilot plant belonging to the same company in the Cayenne chemical-port complex, the Dieu Merci industrial facility is the first of its kind in Guyana. As a sign of state support for this plant, in addition to the authorizations essential for the construction and commissioning of the site, the Directorate General of Public Finance has just granted Auplata a tax credit of 5.8 million euros for “ Tax credit for overseas investments by businesses “.
Another blank check given to the industrialization of the gold sector by the State: the Bercy agreement in February 2019 to change control of Auplata, now part of an international group, operating mines in Peru and having shares in a Moroccan mining company.
The metamorphosis operated by Auplata, gone from a SME Guyana company to an international company, is an avatar among others of the acquisition of interests of world-class groups in Guyana licenses, through the intermediary of locally established companies. This is how today the two largest producers of gold in the world, Newmont and Barrick Gold, are eyeing via more or less complex montages on the Guyanese subsoil. At the top of the state, he remains the joker of “ environmental requirements “ – which we are still waiting for a definition.
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Pictures :
. chapô: Mine Espérance, north of Guyana. Hope Mining Company
. Maroni river. Lechatsylvestre / Wikipedia
. Forest. © Hélène Ferrarini /Reporterre
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