Great turn out at Guyana Mining day at Toronto Conference
Georgetown, GINA, March 5, 2012
Guyana day at the Prospectors and Developers’ Association of Canada (PDAC) in Toronto received an overwhelming response at the first ever Guyana Day event. The forum was attended by a hge crowd of some 120 plus private and institutional investors, potential investors and financial institutions. Participating from Guyana was the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Robert Persaud, who was in Canada to attend PDAC.
The Guyana team, in collaboration with the High Commission of Canada, held its first and very successful mining seminar in Toronto at the PDAC Conference and Exhibition on Sunday, March 5, 2012. Minister Persaud was accompanied by officials from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) including Karen Livan, Commissioner of GGMC and Deputy Commissioner Rickford Vieira.
Minister Persaud was introduced by Canadian High Commissioner, David Devine who also flew from Georgetown to attend PDAC. High Commissioner Devine highlighted the importance of the mining sector to Guyana and the role that Canadian companies were playing in the development of the mining sector. High Commissioner Devine highlighted that Guyana had crossed a significant milestone in positioning its industry on the map through the overwhelming show of interest by the numbers that flocked the event to participate in the Guyana forum. He noted the importance of the partnership that the Ministry of Natural Resources and the High Commission of Canada shared and highlighted some of the major projects that the Ministry and the High Commission have partnered on in support of Guyana’s extractive industry. These include improvements of educational capacities within the sector, partnership on corporate social responsibility and cooperation on strengthening of the regulatory environment among others.
Minister Persaud was warmly welcomed by the attendees and expressed his pleasure at being in Canada with responsibility for this portfolio. He took the opportunity to inform the audience that Guyana was in the process of qualifying for membership to be a part of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The Minister underscored Guyana’s interest in welcoming new investors but also pointed out that in the spirit of greater transparency in the management of Guyana’s resources, a quarterly supplement would be circulated locally so that local residents can be made aware of opportunities in the mining sector.
Minister Persaud flagged Guyana’s interest in developing a gold refinery and indicated that a consortium had already expressed interest in this possibility. Minister Persaud noted the contributions of many of the Canadian companies who are active in Guyana’s extractive sector and extended an invitation to new companies to look at investing in Guyana. The Minister took the opportunity to underscore the Partnership that the Ministry shares with the High Commission of Canada and indicated that the partnership will continue on several fronts related to the development of the Extractive sector.
Minister Persaud’s presentation was followed by four 15 minute presentations from Canadian companies which are holders of mineral agreements in Guyana, Presenters were Claude Lemasson, President and Chief Financial Officer of Guyana Goldfields, Rich Munson, President and Chief Financial Officer of Sandspring Resources, Ian Fodie, Chief Financial Officer of First Bauxite, and Jim Crombie President and CEO of Reunion Manganese.
All four companies spoke positively of their experience in Guyana and their very optimistic outlook for their future developments. As part of the forum, investors, financiers and companies took the opportunity for one-on-one networking with the Minister, his team and to seek out additional information on the development of projects in Guyana.
An evening reception to welcome the Ministerial delegation mirrored the afternoon’s event success with another record crowd turnout. Attendees were liberal in their praise to see the Guyana mission at the PDAC and noted that the attendance was very timely as investors are eager to learn of opportunities in Guyana’s extractive sector.
The Guyana day was an overwhelming success and attendees expressed a keen interest in seeing Guyana participate at this level at the PDAC in the future.
Minister Persaud in his closing remarks underscored the importance of the event and noted that the success of the event is indicative of interest in Guyana as an important mining destination. There is a growing perception that Guyana’s extractive sector has now reached a significant milestone in its mining history and that the international community is indeed taking note!