Guyana suspends mining licenses of more than 100 Brazilians in gold smuggling crackdown

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Guyana has threatened to deport more than 100 Brazilian miners and suspended their licenses after accusing them of producing large amounts of raw gold but not declaring or failing to sell most of it to the government or authorized buyers.

Authorities accused Brazilian miners who are using powerful river and land dredges in the Amazon jungle of sending their production back home, ignoring local laws that mandate sales to the state-run gold board and string of buyers with state permits.

Guyana’s Geology and Mines Commission announced late Monday the immediate suspension of licenses awarded to 107 miners.

Commissioner Newell Dennison told The Associated Press on Tuesday that summonses were sent to all permit holders to “come in to us and let us examine their records. If they don’t come, then consider operations suspended because when we try to reach some of them to discuss compliance, the information they have given us usually proves to be bogus,” he said.

The commission is acting on an edict that President Irfaan Ali issued late last week, giving miners 24 hours to comply or face license suspension and deportation from the South American nation. Gold is Guyana’s number two foreign exchange earner after offshore oil.

Both the commission and a miners association say it’s unclear how many thousands of Brazilians operate in the sector because most work in remote western and southwestern areas near the Brazilian border, which they cross with little or no state oversight.

Previous studies by Guyana’s special organized crime unit suggest that up to 15,000 troy ounces of gold are smuggled out of the country weekly to Brazil, through the river border with Suriname, and then on to the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

In mid-2024, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Guyanese businessmen Nazar and Azruddin Mohamed for allegedly smuggling more than 22,000 pounds (10,000 kilograms) of gold to the U.S., evading more than $50 million in taxes.

The father-and-son duo are now fighting extradition efforts to the U.S. after a South Florida grand jury indicted them late last year on a string of charges linked to mail fraud and money laundering. Azruddin Mohamed, 38, who formed a political party last May that won 16 of the 65 seats in general elections in September, is waiting to be sworn in as the country’s opposition leader even while awaiting an extradition verdict.

Gold declarations for 2024 in Guyana reached 423,000 troy ounces compared with 641,828 ounces in 2019. But global prices for gold have risen astronomically in recent years, hovering around $4,500 per ounce, triggering a surge in production in other countries.