Guyana
The gilded one
The search for El Dorado, the mythical golden city thought to lie somewhere in present-day Guyana, captivated the imaginations of European adventurers for centuries. Although the fabled “Gilded One” was never found, in 2015 ExxonMobil made an oil discovery so large that it is almost prophetic. Not only is this discovery considered the largest of the 21st century, but its significance is amplified by the stark disproportionality with Guyana itself: ExxonMobil’s annual profits are almost five times bigger than Guyana’s annual GDP today, and this is after the country’s economy increased four times since striking oil. The nation of just 800,000 people that has long been one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere is now the world’s fastest-growing, hitting 60% GDP growth in 2022 - a real-life economic El Dorado. The oil boom, and the country’s relationship with the oil sector, have implications for Guyana’s burgeoning gold mining sector, something that this article will explore.
Sitting in the Guiana Shield craton, Guyana is a hotspot for gold discoveries. According to the Bank of Santa Lucia, Guyana is estimated to hold about 14.3 Moz in gold reserves, but it has only one large-scale gold mine, Aurora, operated by Zijin Mining. Guyana has been historically overlooked, whether due to geopolitical issues, the thick jungles hiding its orebodies, or general misconceptions: “At a recent Mines and Money event, I was asked how we operate in a country that is still figuring out its regulations,” said Lance Mishleau, the CEO of Holder Resources, a diversified mining and timber company. Mishleau replied that Guyana has a well-established regulatory framework anchored in the 1989 Mining Act. Guyana is also the only English-speaking country in South America, is a Commonwealth country, and operates under Canadian Business Law.
Dan Noone, the CEO of G2 Goldfields, a gold explorer, recalled similar challenges regarding the country’s risk perception a decade ago: “When we built the Aurora mine as part of Guyana Goldfields in 2014, many people did not know where Guyana was on the map. Back then, we needed the IFC, as a main shareholder, to lead the debt financing and provide political insurance before other investors followed. Today, people are a lot more comfortable and generally perceive Guyana as a safe and attractive investment destination. We no longer need risk underwriting because the likes of Exxon and Chevron are here.”
The oil discovery has certainly catapulted Guyana into the spotlight, putting it on the map of investors not just for energy but also for mining. Several multi-ounce gold deposits are advancing. G Mining Ventures is preparing to bring into production what will be the largest gold mine in the country, Oko-West, which could produce 350,000 oz/y. Production at Oko-West is slated to begin in 2028. At a smaller size, Mako Mining’s recently acquired Eagle Mountain project should be construction-ready by the end of Q1 2026. The project holds 1.8 million oz in indicated and inferred resources. In the more distant pipeline sit G2 Goldfields' 3.1 million oz (total) Oko-Ghanie, and Omai Gold Mines' 4.3 million oz (indicated and inferred) deposits. The largest project under development is Aris Mining’s 5.4 million oz (measured and indicated) Toroparu project. Greenheart Gold, born out of the merger between G Mining and Reunion, has multiple early-stage projects close to existing operations across the Guyana Shield, in both Guyana and Suriname.
Though most of these projects are still some years away from pouring gold, the pace of development is accelerated. According to Louis-Pierre Gignac, the CEO of G Mining Ventures: “Guyana is probably one of the best jurisdictions in terms of permitting timelines and the ability to move projects into production fast. It has only been two years between the initial resource estimate at Oko West and receiving an interim permit, something incredibly rare in the permitting world. The government is keen to see the mining industry grow in the country and diversify its economy from oil and gas, which has also been thriving in the last few years.”
Just as the oil boom highlighted Guyana's investment potential to the world, it also offered lessons to the country’s leadership about the transformative power of FDI in the extractive industries. Unlike many of its regional peers, Guyana actively promotes a pro-mining agenda, viewing both its oil and mineral wealth as key economic pillars. Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said in 2022: “We never had the capital or resources to build the Guyana we always spoke of.”
In the past year, the country’s bauxite production rose by 225%, while gold production held steady at over 400,000 oz last year, according to Hon. Vickram Bharrat, the Minister of Natural Resources. Overseeing both the oil and mining portfolios, Bharrat told GBR: “The government is committed to fostering a stable, transparent and investor-friendly environment, supported by modernized regulations, tax incentives and strong governance mechanisms.”
Guyana’s relationship with both oil and gold evokes memories of a painful legacy with sugar, which was the main export commodity in British Guiana, and Guyana is wary of repeating the historical pattern of extractive exploitation that defined its colonial past. The oil contract with the Exxon-led consortium drew criticism for being overly generous towards the supermajor. Oil and gold are often explained in relationship to one another - gold is sometimes referred to as the “new oil,” and oil is metaphorized as “black gold,” but for a country that is just as gold-rich onshore as it is oil-rich offshore, the connections stretch further. It is not about making gold the new oil, but about making sure neither oil nor gold become the new sugar and re-enact structures that could be critiqued as neo-colonial.
By 2026, Guyana will be producing the equivalent of one barrel/day per capita (over 800,000 bpd in a country of over 800,000 people), yet close to half of the population is believed to live below the poverty line. This shows the disconnect between GDP per capita figures, which rank Guyana as the 30th richest country globally, and the broader reality. The environmental impact resulting from oil production has not gone unnoticed either. Georgetown, Guyana’s capital where most of the population lives, is identified as one of nine cities that could submerge by 2030 due to rising sea levels. Lastly, the oil discovery stoked old tensions over disputed waters with Venezuela, a leading oil producer itself, reintroducing security concerns.
These negative facets of the oil boom indirectly inform government conversations with mining investors. As a stronger and more attractive economy than a decade ago, Guyana will be in a better position to negotiate fair mining deals and demand equitable taxation as well as environmental and community commitments from its investors. Mining is generally perceived positively by the administration since it provides an avenue for economic diversification. Whereas deep-pocketed oil money is contributing to large infrastructure developments, including six new hospitals, many new schools, a deep-water port, and a billion-dollar natural gas pipeline, as reported in the New Internationalist, mining is believed to have a deeper impact on the real economy, especially in terms of generating jobs in remote areas. “The oil industry is not a big generator of employment, so the Guyana government is extremely keen to see mining take off,” said Akiba Leisman, the CEO of Mako Mining.
Besides oil and gold, timber has also become a crucial leg of Guyana’s new resource economy. The country is 75% covered by forests. In 2022, the EU signed a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with Guyana, ratified in 2023, as part the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) initiative. Holder Resources (HRI), a four-generation family business with multiple alluvial gold mining operations in the country, quickly recognized the timber opportunity. “Our thinking is simple: it is a lot easier to prove what is on top of the ground (trees) than it is what is under the ground (gold), so we pivoted into sustainable logging with a shorter pathway to revenue generation and as a way to de-risk our gold mining operations. The timber business in the country is very new, very unique, and, frankly, there are few who know how to do it. As supply chains shift and Europe looks for reliable partners, we find ourselves in a unique position to provide sustainably sourced timber to the EU and other Western allies from a jurisdiction we know intimately.”
With revenues from the forestry business, HRI is looking to develop its three gold properties and launch a new pure exploration vertical for critical minerals. Ultimately, the company is considering creating three separate verticals and is assessing a public listing. HRI calls this trifecta of timber, alluvial gold, and critical minerals a “convergence of opportunities” – and that description is accurate for Guyana itself. The convergence of opportunity across oil, gold, and timber could allow the country to rewrite its resource script and escape the curse of single-commodity dependence.
GUYANA AT A GLANCE
Sources: World Bank, IMF
SURFACE AREA
214,969 km2
CAPITAL
Georgetown
POPULATION
826,353
MEDIAN AGE
26.2 years
LITERACY RATE
90%
GDP, CURRENT USD
17.16 billion
GDP PER CAPITA, CURRENT USD
20,765.35
MAIN EXPORTS GOODS
Oil (90% of exports), sugar, gold, bauxite, shrimp, timber, and rice
MAIN MINING RESOURCES
Bauxite, gold
FDI Evolution
Key players
- Aris Mining
- G Mining Ventures
- G Mining Ventures
- G2 Goldfields
- Golden Shield Resources
- Greenheart Gold
- Guyana Industrial Minerals (GINMIN)
- Holder Resources
- Omai Gold
- Zijin Mining (Aurora Gold)
Did you know?
Guyana is the only South American country where English is the official language.
Article header image courtesy of G2 Goldfields