GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Guyana has launched a multi-year project that will enable the high-tech aerial mapping of the country’s minerals, allowing prospectors to make informed decisions about where to search for commercially viable deposits, ranging from gold to uranium and rare earth minerals.
“This can be about gold, but it can be about so much more. It is about an organised inventory of our mineral resources,” said the Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Newell Dennison.
Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat stated that the mineral mapping exercise aligns with the government’s focus on sustainable development, viable and low-impact mining, and environmental preservation, all of which are key features of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
“This is a project that will enhance our reputation, as a country, that will enhance the mining sector, that will show greater environmental stewardship while we continue to develop our country and create opportunities for our people,” he added.
Geologist and geophysicist Jared Abraham, at the United States-based Aqua Geo Frameworks, said the first set of mapping is expected to be completed by December this year, provided Guyana continues to enjoy good weather.
He said that the team is compiling maps of the distribution of different minerals and their properties throughout Guyana, and that two aircraft, equipped with advanced technology, are collecting data at a rate of 250 kilometres per hour or 70 metres per second, and 80 metres above the surface.
“We’re not disturbing the delicate ecosystem. In one flight, we are collecting more data than you could do on the ground within a year or maybe two years without disturbing the ecosystem,” Abraham said, adding that the plan includes building Guyana’s first gravity map.
Dennison said the mapping exercise would gather data about the geological, geochemical, and structural relationships of Guyana’s “massive mineralised terrains,” as well as their influence on locations, accessibility, and availability for exploitation.
The GGMC official stated that such information would assist decision-makers in investing in areas with a high likelihood of finding commercially viable mineral deposits.
“We do not want to have willy-nilly adventurism into the mining estate. We want people to be much more predictive of where they’re going to put their resources and, therefore, from our perspective, be more proficient in terms of finances and, of course, better outcomes for our national coffers,” he said.
Dennison said the $4 million aerial remote sensing project would help fill data gaps left by geoscientists and previous prospectors.
The project includes training, consultations with stakeholders, and validation of locally completed geological and geochemical surveys dating back 15 years.
President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Ventures, Emily King, said that the mapping exercise entails systematic flights in precisely spaced lines over large areas to measure subtle variations in the Earth’s magnetic and radiometric fields.
She said those measurements help the scientists to see beneath the forest canopy and soils to understand the geology.
She said good data would shorten timelines, reduce unnecessary environmental disturbances, improve outcomes, help the government develop evidence-based policies and regulate efficiency, help companies target their work more responsibly, and “most importantly, help companies benefit from mines of all sizes that are well-planned from the start because they have the best data available”.
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