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– Jewelers warned to buy legallyA 300,Mario Osuna Mexico Jersey,000-ounce gold production target for 2009 by small and medium-scale miners has been met but Government has warned that the industry will be going through rapid adjustments.Prime Minister, Sam Hinds,Sweden Soccer Jersey, whose portfolio covers mining,Guillermo Ochoa Mexico Jersey, in a press release announcing the record declaration, also said that there is a glaring disparity between the buoyancy of the gold jewelry business and the official figures of less than 500 ounces per year purchased by jewelers.Under Guyana’s regulations, jewelers are only allowed to buy gold from the Guyana Gold Board (GGB).However,Juan Carlos Valenzuela Mexico Jersey, over time, many jewelers and miners have illegally been dealing with each other and evading fees to the Guyana Gold Board.Many mining employees are being paid in gold and would trade this with dealers and jewelers across the country.According to the Prime Minister, gold prices have been good and the sector has done exceedingly well for itself during the last years providing much-needed improvement incomes at the family level, and a large portion of the country’s exports and foreign exchange income.“I congratulate and commend the miners themselves, as well as the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA), the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Gold Board (GGB),Paulo Garces Chile Jersey, the institutions as well as their employees.”However, Hinds in the statement noted that while the industry has done well, success always brings new challenges.“As in all human activities exemplified both by the progress of industrialisation and the increased generation and use of energy in so many forms, successes and expansions bring to us new situations where effects and outcomes which before could have been ignored,Mathias Corujo Uruguay Jersey, now have to be fully contained, reduced and mitigated. The story of small and medium scale gold and diamond mining is no different.”Noting the global challenge of climate change,Diego Godin Uruguay Jersey, the government official said that world’s interest in protecting remaining forests has heightened awareness of the negative environmental as well as the social impact and small and medium scale mining.“Miners have been sensitised to these issues and areas for improvement have been identified. New, improved lower-impact, more efficient, higher recovery methods are being demonstrated and sought,Isaac Brizuela Mexico Jersey, as well as restorative practices.“New, improved methods are always more costly in time and money, as they are learnt, but learn we must, if we are not to become obsolete and be left behind. Fortunately,Blank Chile Jersey, good gold prices, at this time, should ease the cost of learning.”The Prime Minister also urged all miners to declare all gold produced and to refrain from exports to neighbouring and distant countries and sell to the GGB and licensed buyers.GGDMA had joined with several stakeholders urging for miners to meet a 300,000 ounces target for 2009. Not since the operations of large scale gold mining operations at Omai, has there been this level of production. |
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