MINING · GUYANA
Key Facts
- The country Guyana, where Aurora Gold Mines Inc. (AGM), owned by China’s Zijin Mining Group, runs the only large-scale gold mine, in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).
- What happened Zijin’s 2026 interim report puts Aurora output at 2.2 tonnes for January–June 2026, Kaieteur News reported on 1 October. Converted, that is 70,731 troy ounces.
- The numbers Guyana’s Ministry of Finance mid-year report lists AGM declarations of 70,105 ounces for the same half (71,316 a year earlier). The gap is 626 ounces, about US$2.57 million at US$4,100.
- What it means for you The gap is under 1 percent and sits inside the rounding of Zijin’s one-decimal tonne figure. It is not evidence of undeclared gold.
- Still open Whether Zijin’s exact ounce figure matches the state’s, and whether production and declaration dates line up. Neither Zijin nor the ministry has commented.
The Aurora gold mine in Guyana produced 2.2 tonnes in the first half of 2026, says its Chinese owner, Zijin Mining Group. Kaieteur News, a Georgetown daily, compared that figure with the government’s own count on 1 October.
Converted to ounces, the company figure is 626 ounces above what the state recorded for the mine. That sounds like a discrepancy, but the gap is smaller than the rounding in Zijin’s own number.
What the two sets of figures say
Zijin’s 2026 interim report says Aurora mined 2.2 tonnes between January and June, up from 2.0 tonnes a year earlier. Kaieteur News converted that to 70,731 troy ounces.
The Ministry of Finance mid-year report lists declarations by AGM, Zijin’s local subsidiary, at 70,105 ounces. That compares with 71,316 ounces in the first half of 2025, according to the same report.
Why the gap is probably rounding
A figure of 2.2 tonnes, given to one decimal place, can mean anything from 2.15 to 2.25 tonnes. That range runs from roughly 69,100 to 72,300 troy ounces.
The state’s 70,105 ounces equals about 2.18 tonnes, which rounds to 2.2. The 626-ounce gap, worth about US$2.57 million at US$4,100 an ounce, is under 1 percent of output.
Kaieteur News itself described the company figure as only slightly higher. On these numbers, the comparison does not show gold leaving Guyana undeclared.
Revenue and output are rising
Zijin said AGM’s revenue from the Guyana project reached US$334 million in the first half of 2026. A year earlier the mine earned about RMB1.48 billion (about US$221 million), Kaieteur News reported, which it put at over US$200 million.
Across the gold operations in the report, Zijin said mined gold rose 44 percent to about 27.3 tonnes, helped by newly acquired assets. Aurora produced about 4.5 tonnes in 2025, up 11 percent on 2024.
Zijin bought the mine in 2020, when it acquired Canada’s Guyana Goldfields for US$238 million. The deposit holds an estimated 184 tonnes, roughly six million ounces.
Why the comparison still matters
Guyana taxes gold through royalties on declared output, so scrutiny of company and state numbers is normal. Aurora is the country’s only large-scale producer and a major share of the national total.
National declarations reached nearly 240,000 ounces in that half (see Guyana Gold Declarations Near $955 Million in First Half of 2026). Strong prices have also lifted state income, covered in Guyana Gold Record Pace Fuels US$263M Budget Push.
What Is Not Yet Known
Zijin has not published an exact ounce figure for Aurora in this period, so the true gap cannot be measured. The government has not commented on Kaieteur’s comparison.
It is also unclear whether output and declarations cover identical dates. Gold mined late in June could be declared in July, which would shift ounces between periods.
The two series also moved in opposite directions. Zijin reported a 10 percent rise in Aurora output, while state declarations for AGM fell 1.7 percent.
Both documents are cited here as reported by Kaieteur News. Their figures have not been independently confirmed.
Sources: Kaieteur News, “Zijin reports more gold from Aurora than Guyana’s official declaration” (1 Oct 2026) and “Chinese company rakes in US$334M in revenue from Guyana gold mine in six months” (29 Sep 2026), citing the Zijin Mining Group 2026 Interim Report and the Guyana Ministry of Finance mid-year report; Rio Times archive.
More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. The Rio Times also runs Ask Rio Times, which answers from 100,000+ of our own articles, the daily Latin America Power Map, and prediction-market odds on elections and markets.. How we use AI · Report an error