Gold may remain the best-known part of Guyana’s mining industry, but the sector is becoming increasingly diversified, with manganese, quarrying and other extractive activities expanding alongside the country’s traditional gold and bauxite operations.
The shift is being driven by both renewed mineral development and strong domestic demand generated by Guyana’s rapid economic and infrastructure expansion.
In Region One, the long-dormant manganese industry at Matthews Ridge has emerged as one of the country’s major potential non-gold mining developments.
Guyana Manganese Inc. (GMI), a subsidiary of China’s Bosai Minerals Group, acquired the Matthews Ridge project and associated licences and infrastructure as part of efforts to restart commercial manganese production in the area.
Government information on the project has outlined plans for the operation to mine about 2 million tonnes of manganese ore annually, producing approximately 500,000 tonnes of manganese concentrate.
The project is based on a substantial manganese resource at Matthews Ridge and was designed to include open-pit mining, a processing plant, power generation and supporting infrastructure.
Earlier government estimates projected substantial employment during construction and several hundred jobs during normal operations, while infrastructure improvements associated with the project were expected to benefit communities around Matthews Ridge and Port Kaituma.
Manganese is an important industrial mineral, particularly in steel production. Its growing strategic importance has also attracted attention because of its potential role in battery supply chains and other technologies, although Guyana’s Matthews Ridge project should not be characterised as an EV-battery project without more specific evidence of its intended markets.
The other major story is happening much closer to the country’s population centres.
Guyana’s construction boom has created rapidly rising demand for the basic materials needed to build roads, houses, commercial developments and major infrastructure projects.
That has translated into sharp increases in production of sand, stone aggregate and loam.
Government data show that aggregate stone production increased from about 737,000 tonnes in 2020 to more than 3.3 million tonnes in 2024, with the number of operational quarries also increasing from seven in 2020 to 17 by the end of 2024.
Sand production has grown even more dramatically.
According to figures presented by President Irfaan Ali in 2026, sand production increased from about 408,000 tonnes in 2020 to approximately 15 million tonnes in 2025, while stone production and imports rose from roughly 700,000 tonnes to about 5.6 million tonnes over the same period.
The increases reflect the scale of Guyana’s construction activity.
The government’s 2026 economic outlook projects construction to expand by 25.4 per cent, while mining and quarrying are projected to grow by 17.6 per cent. Within mining and quarrying outside petroleum, stronger sand and stone production is expected to be one of the main drivers.
This means the impact of the oil boom is being felt well beyond the offshore sector.
Every new road, bridge, housing development, industrial facility and commercial building requires basic construction materials—and those materials are being supplied increasingly by Guyana’s own mining and quarrying industry.
A mining sector being reshaped by oil
The expansion of quarrying illustrates one of the less obvious ways Guyana’s oil wealth is transforming the wider economy.
Oil production has generated government revenues and private investment, but it has also created demand for construction, logistics, transportation, real estate and other industries.
Mining and quarrying are benefiting from that activity while continuing to serve traditional markets.
At the same time, the return of manganese production adds another export-oriented mineral stream to an economy that is increasingly dominated by petroleum.
Gold remains central to the mining industry, but the wider picture is becoming more complicated.
Guyana is producing and developing a broader range of natural resources—from gold and bauxite to manganese, sand, stone and other construction materials.
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