Guyana’s mining legal framework: licences, environmental requirements, foreign investment and the Gold Board

The Mining Act 1989 and the GGMC

The principal statute remains the Mining Act 1989 (Act No. 20 of 1989, Cap. 65:01), passed on 28 December 1989, assented to on 30 December 1989 and gazetted on the same date. As at the date of this note, no new Mining Act, and no amending Act replacing it, has been identified as having been enacted in 2024, 2025 or 2026. Current Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) materials continue to cite the 1989 Act, which is to be read together with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Act. Subject to the other provisions of Part II, all minerals within the lands of Guyana vest in the State. The Commission may grant a licence or permit authorising the holder to enter on private, Government or State lands and there search or mine for, take and appropriate minerals; in the case of private lands and Government lands, the grant is with the approval of the Minister.

Licensing tiers: small, medium and large scale

Part III of the Act deals with prospecting and mining on a large scale, through a prospecting licence and a mining licence. Part IV deals with medium- and small-scale operations, through a prospecting permit, a mining permit or a claim licence. The Minister may, by regulations, prescribe when operations are deemed medium- or small-scale. The GGMC’s published frequently asked questions state the size of a small-scale claim as 1,500 feet by 800 feet, and of a river claim as one mile of a navigable river; medium-scale permits as covering between 150 and 1,200 acres; and a large-scale mineral property as covering between 500 and 12,800 acres.

A prospecting permit expires twelve months after issue, may be renewed for further twelve-month periods, may not be transferred, and does not authorise mining. If the holder discovers a mineral of an anomalous occurrence, or locates a claim, the holder must apply within 60 days, or such longer period as the Commission may allow, for a mining permit or a claim licence, or the prospecting permit lapses. A mining permit is valid for five years and may be renewed for further periods not exceeding five years, or for the life of the deposit, whichever is shorter, and may be transferred to an eligible person. A claim licence is valid until 31 December of the year of grant and may be renewed for twelve months from 1 January in each year. The Commission shall not grant a mining permit or claim licence if it has reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant does not intend to carry on mining in good faith, within the limits of the applicant’s competence and resources; if the applicant is in default without sufficient grounds for waiver; or if the area sought exceeds the area prescribed.

A large-scale prospecting licence continues in force for the period stipulated in the licence, not exceeding three years after grant (or after any preparation period), and may be renewed for periods not exceeding one year on each occasion. A mining licence continues in force for a period not exceeding 20 years after grant, and may be renewed for a period not exceeding seven years. The Commission may, with the approval of the Minister, cancel a licence where the licensee is in default, subject to the notice requirements in the Act.

Who may hold title, and foreign investment

A prospecting permit under Part IV may be issued only to an adult citizen of Guyana; a partnership of two or more such citizens; a company whose entire issued share capital is beneficially owned by citizens of Guyana, or by a corporation established by or under a written law in operation in Guyana, or partly by such citizens and partly by such a corporation; a registered co-operative society; a public corporation or other corporate body established by or under a written law in force in Guyana; or a government organisation authorised to carry on mining operations. The GGMC states that small- and medium-scale titles are reserved for Guyanese nationals or Guyanese-owned entities, and that foreign investors may participate through joint ventures with local holders. Any such arrangement must leave the title with a person eligible under section 57.

Large-scale licences are treated differently. No licence may be granted to an individual unless that person is an adult citizen of Guyana. A prospecting licence may be granted to a Companies Act company, a public corporation, a registered co-operative society, any other corporate body incorporated in or outside Guyana (including a company established outside Guyana), or a government organisation authorised to carry on mining operations. A mining licence may be granted to a body of persons only if it is a Companies Act company, a public corporation, a registered co-operative society, any other corporate body incorporated in Guyana, or such a government organisation. A licence may be held in a joint arrangement if each participant is eligible. A body corporate holding a mining licence may not, without the Minister’s prior written consent, transfer equity shares or enter into an arrangement if the effect would be to give a person control — including by holding 20 per cent or more of the issued equity shares, being entitled to appoint or prevent the appointment of half or more of the directors, or being entitled to exercise votes in respect of not less than two-fifths of the issued equity shares. The GGMC also states that small- and medium-scale activities on Amerindian titled lands may be conducted only with the written consent of the Village, after which the necessary permit must still be obtained from the Commission.

The Guyana Gold Board

The Guyana Gold Board Act (Cap. 66:01, Act No. 12 of 1981, as amended, including by Acts Nos. 2 of 1987, 5 of 1994 and 17 of 2018) established the Guyana Gold Board as a body corporate. The Act came into operation on 31 December 1981. The official L.R.O. 1/2022 text of Cap. 66:01 incorporates those amendments and includes section 9A. Section 9A, which requires the Board, on an application to possess, sell or export gold, to investigate whether the applicant is a fit and proper person, was inserted by the Schedule to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Act 2018 (Act No. 17 of 2018), published in the Official Gazette (Extraordinary) of 7 September 2018. The Guyana Gold Board (Amendment) Bill 2019 (Bill No. 8 of 2019) was published in the Gazette of 22 May 2019; this review has identified that instrument only as a Bill, and has not identified a corresponding enacted Act. The Board’s current standard operating procedures (August 2025) quote and apply section 9A as it stands after the 2018 insertion.

The Board’s functions include carrying on the business of trading in gold; securing an adequate supply of gold and its equitable distribution in Guyana at fair prices; subject to the Act, purchasing all gold produced in Guyana; and, subject to the Act, selling gold in Guyana and outside Guyana. The Board, with the approval of the Minister, fixes by Gazette notice the price at which it shall purchase or sell gold in Guyana. “Gold” is defined as raw gold, and includes unrefined gold amalgam, slimes and scrapings containing gold, and smelted gold that is not manufactured into any article of commerce. A “producer” includes a holder or licensee of a claim, a holder of a prospecting licence who has obtained gold during prospecting, and a tributor who has lawfully obtained gold from a claim under a contract.

Every producer who wins or obtains gold must, within 28 days after winning or obtaining it, and within 24 hours of conveying it to Georgetown or any other place determined by the Minister, or such longer period as the Board may allow, sell that gold to the Board or to an agent authorised in writing by the Board. Section 8 provides that no person shall sell any gold to, or purchase any gold from, any person other than the Board or an authorised agent, or export any gold.

Section 9(1) nevertheless allows the Board, on application in the prescribed manner, to authorise a person to possess, sell or export such quantity of gold as the Board may allow, subject to conditions. That is the statutory basis for what the Board, and the Guyana Gold Board (Dealers) Regulations 1997, treat as an authorisation (commonly called a dealer’s licence) to possess, sell or export gold. The Board’s published materials state that only the Board and licensed gold dealers may export gold.

A separate regime applies to licensed traders. Section 9(2) does not prohibit a person duly authorised under the Tax Act to sell or barter goods in a mining district from advancing money or supplying goods on credit to a miner in consideration of payment in gold, provided the licensee informs the Board within 10 days of receipt and, on demand, sells all gold so received to the Board at the price fixed under section 5. Section 10 authorises such a licensee to purchase gold, provided the Board is informed within 14 days and, on demand, the gold is sold to the Board. The Board’s published guidance treats these licensees as licensed traders; they are not, under the Act, given a general export authorisation of the kind in section 9(1).

Royalty on gold is not set in the Gold Board Act itself. The Board’s current public notices on statutory deductions, including a notice of 17 February 2026, state that a royalty of 5 per cent of the gross value of gold sold is deducted at the point of sale pursuant to Regulation 139 of the Mining Regulations under the Mining Act, and is remitted to the GGMC. This review has not extracted a clean, readable official text of Regulation 139 itself; the 5 per cent figure is therefore stated on the authority of those official Board notices.

Income tax on individual gold miners is governed by section 33E of the Income Tax Act (Cap. 81:01). The GRA’s October 2020 consolidation set that section out as a sliding scale: 2 per cent of gross proceeds where the price is under USD 1,100 per ounce; 2.5 per cent at USD 1,100–1,300; 3 per cent at above USD 1,300–1,600; and 3.5 per cent above USD 1,600. The Fiscal Enactments (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2022 (Act No. 11 of 2022), gazetted on 11 August 2022 and deemed to have come into operation, for sections 33E and 33F, from the year of income commencing on 1 June 2022, amended section 33E(1)(a) by substituting “above USD $1,100” for “USD $1,100 - $1,300” in subparagraph (ii) and by deleting subparagraphs (iii) and (iv). The statutory rates now in force for gold are therefore 2 per cent of gross proceeds where the price is under USD 1,100 per ounce, and 2.5 per cent where the price is above USD 1,100. The official text of Cap. 81:01 supplied with the revised laws records section 33E in that amended form, including the deletion of subparagraphs (iii) and (iv) by Act No. 11 of 2022, and marks sections 33F and 33H as repealed by that Act. The Board’s notices, which describe a 2.5 per cent deduction for individual miners (excluding companies), are consistent with the upper (and, at current market prices, the applicable) band, but they should be read with the remaining lower band. Section 33E, as amended in 2019, treats tax on declarations made to the Board as a final tax on that gold-mining income; tax on gold not declared to the Board, and on other income, is not treated as a final tax under that subsection. The same 2022 Act repealed section 33F (the former tributors tax) and section 33H. The Board remits royalties to the GGMC and taxes to the GRA.

The Board’s standard operating procedures (August 2025) set out the process for a dealer’s authorisation under section 9(1), including a fit-and-proper assessment under section 9A, Board approval, and the Minister of Natural Resources’ no-objection. They state a processing fee of seventy-five thousand dollars (G$75,000), a licence fee of three million dollars (G$3,000,000), and a security bond of 10 ounces of gold, or the equivalent in cash, at the first fix of the year, all payable before issue. On renewal, the same processing and licence fees are payable; a further security deposit is not required unless the earlier deposit was forfeited. An authorisation is valid until 31 December of the year of issue. Those are administrative requirements published by the Board and should be checked in their current form. The Guyana Gold Board (Dealers) Regulations 1997 (Regulations No. 4 of 1997) prescribe forms, conditions (including deduction of royalty and income tax, record-keeping and customs formalities on export) and annual expiry on 31 December. No 2024–2026 amendment to the Gold Board Act itself has been identified in this review.

Environmental authorisation and special mining permits

Under section 11(1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1996, a developer of any project listed in the Fourth Schedule, or any other project which may significantly affect the environment, shall apply to the Environmental Protection Agency for an environmental permit. The Fourth Schedule includes “the extraction and conversion of mineral resources”. The Agency screens the application and decides whether an environmental impact assessment is required. Where an EIA is required, it is to be carried out by independent and suitably qualified persons, with defined opportunities for public submissions and consideration by the Environmental Assessment Board. If the project is approved, the Agency issues an environmental permit subject to conditions reasonably necessary to protect human health and the environment. GGMC materials also require a medium-scale mining-permit applicant to post an environmental bond of $100,000 and to sign an Environmental Management Agreement, and treat an EPA authorisation as a pre-condition to a small- or medium-scale mining permit.

Section 67 already authorised regulations for special mining permits where the Commission is of the opinion that the operations could not appropriately be carried on under the other provisions of the Act. The Mining (Special Mining Permit) Regulations 2025 (Regulations No. 6 of 2025), published in the Official Gazette (Extraordinary) of 11 June 2025 and deemed to come into effect on that date, apply only to applications received on or before 31 January 2018, from persons named in Schedule 1, for mining permits over the tracts of State lands set out in that Schedule. An applicant so referred to need not hold a prospecting permit. A special mining permit under the Regulations is for an area of not less than 150 and not more than 1,200 acres, and is valid for five years, renewable on terms corresponding to those for a mining permit. They do not create a general new licensing tier, and they do not replace the 1989 Act.