The Role of GGB in Guyana’s Mining Industry

 Longtime mining executive Barry Kevin O’Rourke is a recognized presence in Guyana’s mining industry. He leads S.A.B. Mining as the managing director. In this role, Barry Kevin O’Rourke takes care of the company’s operations, including the buying and selling of minerals and precious metals. S.A.B. Mining has been assigned 25 1,200-acre blocks of land in the jungles of Guyana that it has permission to mine.

The trading of gold within Guyana is managed by the Guyana Gold Board (GGB). Established in May 1982, GGB was created by the Guyana government to purchase and sell gold within Guyana and abroad. GGB fixes the standard price twice every day - once in the morning and again in the afternoon - to ensure fair trading and equitable distribution of gold. GGB also makes sure that there is a sufficient supply of gold in Guyana.

Trading gold with GGB has many benefits for traders. these benefits include:

Competitive prices

While traders are required to pay a 5 percent royalty for trading with GGB, they still get a better deal with GGB than they would if they trade with illegal traders.

Fair scales

The scales used by GGB are calibrated at least twice every year by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards. Each transaction is done in front of the customer and uses at least two scales to ensure that over or underpayment does not occur.

Reliable purity testing

GGB is reliable when it comes to testing gold purity. GGB uses dry and water densities of gold to ascertain a sample’s purity.

Infrastructure support

The royalties and taxes collected by the GGB ensure that the Guyana government has the necessary funds to maintain roads and infrastructure for the safety of all stakeholders.

Top Gold Producing Countries

 

Barry Kevin O'Rourke is the director at S.A.B. Mining in Georgetown, Guyana, where he manages the mining company. Away from work, Barry Kevin O'Rourke enjoys sports, football, politics, reading, and exercising. He is also interested in mineralogy.

Although gold is one of the world's rarest minerals accounting for between 0.001 and 0.006 parts per million of the earth's crust, some countries are rich in these unique elements, including China. China accounts for 11 percent of global mine production. Although the government's stricter environmental policies have reduced production, the country has remained in the top position for over a decade.

Australia's Pilbara region might be known for being one of the world's largest iron ore producers. Still, it has recently been a constant contributor to the country's consistently large gold output. Western Pilbara was first discovered for gold in 2017.

Russia ranked the third top gold producer in 2021, and the country is reportedly making arrangements to increase its gold production and become the world's largest gold producer by 2029.

Although the U.S.'s gold output has dropped in the past few years, it remains one of the world's gold producers. Over 40 lode mines, big mines in Alaska, and other placer mines in the West U.S. generated most of the nation's gold. In fact, 98 percent of the gold produced in America was produced by the top 26 enterprises in the nation.