You're on Sherriff Street, Georgetown's lookalike for Ariapita Avenue. An impressive four-storey steel frame structure is taking shape. Street talk says it will top off with a glitzy revolving restaurant. The rumoured entrepreneur? A well-known gold miner. Other miners own a fair few of the shiny SUVs which weave through busy traffic below.
With other Caribbean economies dragged down by tourism's troubles, Guyana and Suriname have been racing through a gold boom.
Guyana's boom has been driven by local enterprises � small and mid-scale miners who sift for gold close to the tumbling rivers of the interior.
Omai, a big Canadian-owned miner, closed its Guyana operation in 2005. Until then, it turned out three-quarters of Guyana's gold. Local miners have made up the slack, stimulated by rising prices. In the two years to 2012, gold output increased by 42%.
An ounce of gold sold for US$400 back in 2005. In the last three months of 2012, the price averaged US$1,722.
Not again. An ounce sold for just US$1,280 last Tuesday morning. By the end of Thursday, the London 'fix' was close to US$1,200. Looking ahead, UBS Bank is talking about US$1,050 by June next year.
If you want, blame Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve. Almost two weeks ago, with gold prices already edgy, he roadmapped an end the 'quantitative easing' which has kept interest rates low. Big investors have dumped gold in favour of interest-earning assets.
So where does this leave Guyana? Nowhere good. Last year, gold made up more than half of Guyana's exports, and 15% of GDP. If Guyana hits trouble, there could be a knock-on effect for TT exporters, and for investors with Guyanese assets, such as Republic Bank.
By law, Guyanese gold must be sold to the state-owned Gold Board, which buys from miners at slightly below the London price. In a rising market, the Board was tempted to hold gold stocks � around 60,000 ounces, according to media reports. If that number is close to target, those stocks lost US$5 million in value from Tuesday to Thursday last week. Guyana's GDP is around US$8 million a day. Should the Board sell now? Or sit tight? It's a tough call.
There is no need for a full-degree panic. Industry insiders say Guyanese miners can survive with a gold price around US$1,000 �they bumped along with prices lower than this until 2009. But output will drop.
"The road ahead is full of bumps. Risks are increasing." says one operator. "Those who survive will be the ones who can control their costs. Suppliers will have to accommodate us."
"The whole country will have to adjust," he adds. "The government will be under pressure. They built their budget on a higher gold price."
Overseas miners have prospected Guyana for years, inching towards Omai-scale investments. Canada's Guyana Goldfields plans a US$600 million Aurora mine. ETK/Sandspring Resources, also Canadian, recently completed a pre-feasibility study for a US$400 million Toroparu mine.
Toroparu projects a 16% after-tax rate of return with the gold price at US$1,200, rising to 34% at US$1,750 per ounce. Last December, the arithmetic looked attractive; on Friday morning, it did not.
And Suriname? As always, there's a slightly different spin to their story. Maroons from the interior and others hold small-scale mining concessions, but do not always work them. That falls to contractors, often Guyanese or Brazilian, an arrangement which has brought occasional friction, even with a rising gold price. A squeeze on profits would leave both sides discontented; that could lead to further conflict.
Unlike Guyana, Suriname has a large-scale commercial mine � Gross Rosebel, which is owned by Omai's successor company, Iamgold. Profits have soared since it opened in 2004, to the enormous benefit of the government's tax take.
Now, the company is moving into hard-rock deposits which will be costly to mine. It is asking for low-cost energy, and warns trade unions not to expect too many pay rises. With falling prices, that too could spell trouble ahead.
The government last month signed an agreement with Iamgold for expansion of Gross Rosebel. Another agreement is close to completion with Alcoa's local subsidiary Suralco and US company Newmont, who want to mine gold and bauxite in the Nassau mountains.
The government plans a direct equity stake in these schemes. It is working on a US$500 million bond issue to fund these and other investments. That is big money � close to 9% of GDP. Meanwhile, the central bank holds ten percent of its reserves in gold. That stash was worth US$90 million last month; and a good bit less today.
Crystal ball, anyone? Big investors and central banks have sold down their gold, and don't look likely to un-sell. As the price slides, small investors rush for the exit. The other big market is bling and bangles. In rural India, jewellery is not just for looks; it's a family cash reserve. If Gujarat villagers start to see gold as a risky buy, that would spell trouble for Guyana.