by Randy GoPaul
Let us stop pretending.
What is happening in Guyana’s gold sector is not partnership. It is extraction, dressed up as investment.
While Guyanese celebrate rising production figures, foreign companies, largely Canadian, are quietly building billion-dollar enterprises on our soil, extracting our resources at scale, and exporting the overwhelming share of the value.
The latest deal tells the story plainly. A Canadian firm is consolidating a massive gold operation in Region Seven, combining assets that hold more than 7 million ounces of gold, with projected production exceeding 500,000 ounces annually.
Half a million ounces of gold every year.
At current prices, that is not small money. That is generational wealth. That is nation-building revenue.
But it is not building Guyana.
It is building balance sheets in Toronto.
Let us ask the question that too few are willing to ask publicly. If Guyana is producing gold at this scale, why does the country still feel poor in its outcomes? Why are communities underdeveloped? Why are public services strained? Why do teachers, nurses, and public servants continue to struggle?
Because the structure of this industry is fundamentally unequal.
The companies involved speak openly about “synergies,” “cost savings,” and “shareholder returns.” They celebrate avoided capital costs in the hundreds of millions and projected efficiencies that will boost profits even further.
That is their job.
But where is Guyana in that equation?
We receive royalties that are modest at best. We get limited employment. We are handed carefully curated narratives about development. Meanwhile, the real money flows out.
This is not oversight. It is design.
Canada has built a global mining empire, and Guyana is one of its outposts. The model is simple. Secure large concessions. Scale production. Minimize local obligations. Repatriate profits.
And when political tensions arise in Guyana, Canada reappears, not as a partner in development, but as a voice in governance, offering opinions on democracy and stability.
It is a remarkable arrangement. Extract the wealth in times of calm. Intervene in times of crisis. Contribute very little in between.
If this were happening to Canada, it would be called exploitation.
In Guyana, we are told to call it opportunity.
But the cost of this “opportunity” is written across our landscape.
Our rivers are no longer what they were. Mining runoff and chemical contamination have polluted waterways that once sustained entire regions. Forests are cleared, ecosystems disrupted, and the long-term environmental consequences are treated as secondary concerns.
And then there are the Indigenous communities.
For them, this is not an abstract debate about GDP or foreign investment. This is about survival. About land, water, and dignity. Communities that have lived in balance with these ecosystems for generations are now forced to bear the consequences of industrial extraction that they did not design and from which they derive minimal benefit.
Their quality of life is declining so that foreign shareholders can celebrate rising returns.
That is the truth.
And it is a hard truth, because it forces us to confront not just foreign behavior, but our own decisions.
Guyana has allowed this structure to persist. We have negotiated agreements that undervalue our resources. We have accepted frameworks that prioritize speed over equity. We have celebrated production without interrogating distribution.
We cannot continue like this.
Gold prices are rising. Production is increasing. The scale of extraction is expanding rapidly. If there was ever a moment to correct course, this is it.
We need to renegotiate from strength, not deference.
That means higher and smarter royalty structures.
That means equity stakes in major projects.
That means strict and enforceable environmental protections.
That means real, measurable investment in affected communities.
And it means ending the illusion that foreign investment is inherently benevolent.
Investment is not charity. It is a transaction. And right now, Guyana is not getting a fair deal.
We are not anti-investment, we are pro-Guyana and in a way that our government representatives are not.
Because a country that exports its wealth while importing environmental damage and social disruption is not developing. It is being depleted.
We cannot continue to watch billions leave our shores while we debate scraps.
We cannot continue to sacrifice our rivers, our forests, and our Indigenous communities for arrangements that do not materially improve the lives of our people.
And we cannot continue to accept a relationship where Canada profits handsomely from Guyana’s gold, while Guyana is left to manage the consequences.
At some point, a country must decide that enough is enough.
That moment is now.
