“There’s gold in them thar hills!” – from The American Claimant, Mark Twain 1892
Sunday, August 18, 2024
The Belize national anthem reminds us that this Jewel of ours is blessed with “wealth untold”, and no one has yet found any reason to even attempt to deny this claim. It is all around us. From the climate, to the people, to the rich, fertile lands, and the abundant cayes with white sandy beaches and the gleaming clear Caribbean Sea, the only Barrier Reef in the western hemisphere, with the World Heritage site of the Blue Hole, and more. Our prime minister proudly “lay it on” for our guests at the recent 55th Annual General Meeting of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union in beautiful Placencia. Unfortunately, some of our young brothers “no happy”, and are expressing their frustration and despair in life by going down the road of crime and violence, which only leads to more trouble and sorrow for them when either “street justice” or the law catches up with them. But there is still a lot of love and hope for the Jewel, with all its “wealth untold” only needing to be constructively engaged and exploited in a sustainable and fair manner to positively impact the lives of all our citizens without “killing the goose” in the process.
There is no doubt that there remain significant oil deposits in Belize, both on land and under the seabed, and there is no need to even consider taking any risks with our booming tourism industry and the seafood production potential of our coastal waters with any offshore exploration; and, thankfully, that has been placed on an indefinite moratorium. There is enough “black gold” on land for us to look into first, when it is deemed feasible and safe to exploit; and certainly, with a better profit-sharing agreement than what we had before.
With our agricultural potential on the upswing, there should be no urgency to even think about oil right now, since the ever-present risk of pollution remains a concern, aside from the global warming consideration and the green energy focus.
And, besides, who knows what all precious minerals are also in our soils. For sure, there is gold, real, “yellow” gold; but there are other matters to consider, and one matter in particular that we can no longer take for granted, as it could well be the element of the future, is water. Not just any water, but as the Country and Western song says, “cool, clear water”. Add “clean and untainted” by dangerous elements resulting from reckless mining/exploitation methods.
It has long been known that Belize had gold; long before the Geggs began their effort at mining this precious metal. A driver for former Agriculture Minister, Alexander “Sandy” Hunter, one “Mr. Pike”, confided to workers at the old Forestry and Fisheries office on Princess Margaret Drive back in the early 1970s, that he had come across nuggets of gold from the streams of Mountain Pine Ridge. Strange, there has been no “gold rush” in Belize. The Gegg family and a few others did attempt a project for mining gold, but it was short-lived, with limited production (at least according to official reports). The terrain was intimidating, and the site was way up in the mountains, requiring great effort and expense just to reach the source. In recent years we have heard of Guatemalan poachers using their own primitive methods to “pan gold” from those streams.
Talking about gold, www.history.com said that “on August 16, 1896, George Carmack reportedly spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparks the last great gold rush in the American West.” And these gold seekers were such adventurers and desperados that they took great risks and endured tremendous travails in their quest of a fortune from gold. Just to reach the Klondike gold fields in Canada, “The combined overland trek and river journey often took over a year, and scores of miners died along the way from cold, starvation, avalanches and drowning. Even more turned back out of sheer exhaustion. Of the estimated 100,000 people who headed north, only around 30,000 actually made it to the Klondike.” To reach the site in western Belize where Guatemalan intruders were reportedly panning for gold, is “not’n nice”, there being no all-weather road, but is nothing compared to what those fortune seekers of the Wild West endured. And, thank goodness, because of environmental concerns due to massive pollution from one licensed mining operation, our understanding is that the operation has been forced to close down.
The rush may not have really started yet in Belize; but who knows, it may soon be here, and we’d better be prepared to deal with it. One Amandala story from May, 2010, titled, “Belize gold potential ‘intriguing,’ says Geologist Cornec”, quoted “Cornec, a founding director of Belize Natural Energy, which struck commercial oil in Belize in 2005” as describing “particularly the Maya Mountains and a network of rivers and tributaries in the region – as having ‘intriguing gold potential’.” According to the 2010 story, Cornec also “documents the historical works, citing C. Dixon in the early 1950’s, D. Derry Ltd. in the late 1960’s, Anschutz Co. in late 1970’s, F. Gegg in 1980’s, BHP Ltd. and Castle Exploration in the 1990’s, and G. Boiton Minerals and Erin Ventures currently.”
The 2010 Amandala story continued, saying that, “Craig Moore, the current Inspector of Mines, in the Department of Geology and Petroleum, told Amandala this evening, that the Cornec report, to which the department has contributed, is credible.” And, while Moore, in that same story, confirmed that “currently, Erin Ventures and Boiton are the only team exploring for gold in Belize,” the Amandala story referred to its previous reports that “Erin Ventures, in a joint venture with Boiton Minerals of San Ignacio, Cayo, has been producing and exporting Belize gold since 1999.” It must have been worth their while, but Belize certainly has not hit the “jackpot” in gold yet. According to the story, “Cornec’s report claims that between 1999 and 2008, 2,300 ounces were exported. At today’s prices, that gold is valued just under $3 million. This exploration work for gold has been ongoing in the Ceibo Chico Creek area.”
The story winds up with Moore suggesting “that the state of the commodities market and the risk involved with such an investment are among the factors that have kept explorations at bay.” And it concludes by noting (in 2010) that “Today’s spot prices for gold are US$1,200 per ounce.”
Well, that figure has since doubled. At www.monex.com, the market price for gold in August 2024 is at US$ 2,502 per ounce, while goldprice.org quotes it at US$ 2,498.07 per ounce. Since 2023 when it was at US$ 1,800 per ounce, the price of gold has been rising steadily. Will the gold rush prospectors come to Belize sometime soon, before the price drops?
For sure, water is a precious commodity for all citizens, water that is not tainted with high levels of carcinogenic substances like mercury, lead, and others. We trust that our Environmental Department and all citizens will be vigilant and keep our leaders awake when the lure of big gold fortunes presented by “foreign direct investors” begins to light up our skies in little Belize.
According to earthworks.org, “Gold mining is one of the most destructive industries in the world. It can displace communities, contaminate drinking water, hurt workers, and destroy pristine environments. It pollutes water and land with mercury and cyanide, endangering the health of people and ecosystems. Producing gold for one wedding ring alone generates 20 tons of waste.” We don’t know what effects, if any, the current gold mining operation is having on the rates of cancer in Belize, but caution should be our goal.