Guyana has launched a multi-year project that will allow for the high-tech aerial mapping of the country’s minerals so that prospectors can 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 said the mineral mapping exercise is in line with government’s thrust of sustainable development, viable and low-impact mining, and environmental preservation that are all 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 at the United States-based Aqua Geo Frameworks, Jared Abraham, said the first set of mapping is expected to be completed by December, this year if Guyana continues to enjoy good weather.
He said that the team is putting together maps of how the different minerals and their properties are configured throughout Guyana and that two aircraft, stacked with advanced equipment, are collecting data at rate of 250 kilometres or 70 metres per second and 80 metres over 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 eco-system,’ Abraham said, adding that the plan includes building Guyana’s first gravity map.
Dennison said the mapping exercise would gather data about the geological and geochemistry and structural relationships of Guyana ‘massive mineralised terrains,’ influence on the locations, accessibility and availability for exploitation.
The GGMC official said such information would assist decision-makers in investing in areas with a great likelihood of finding commercially viable mineral deposits.
‘We want not to have willy-nilly adventurism into the mining estate. We want persons 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 four million US dollar aerial remote sensing would be able to 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 to 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, reduces unnecessary environmental disturbances and improve outcomes, helps government develop evidence-based policies and regulate efficiency, helps companies target their work more responsibly and ‘most importantly helps companies benefit from mines of all sizes that are well-planned from the start because they have the best data available’.