…over US$100 million invested in new bauxite mining company

By Tamica Garnett
OVER US$100 million has been invested by the privately-owned Guyana Industrial Minerals (GINMIN), a subsidiary of American mining company First Bauxite (FBX), which, on Thursday officially launched bauxite mining and processing operations at its Bonasika Bauxite Project, Sand Hills in Region Three.

The company is set to inject over US$387.35 million into the local economy over the next 15 years; this includes a projected US$50 million that will be indirect payments to the government.

The company has already delineated approximately 13 million tonnes of bauxite for mining over the next 15 years. The company’s processing plant has the maximum capacity of processing approximately 300, 000 metric tonnes of washed bauxite a year.

Officially declaring the mines and processing plant open was Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman, who said that “we are headed for great things”.

“The positive impact of mining on the development of Guyana is undeniable. The mining sector generally, and bauxite and gold in particular, have played prominent roles in our economy alongside our forestry and agricultural sectors,” Trotman related.

First signing a bilateral mineral agreement with Guyana in November, 2011, GINMIN is one of three foreign-owned bauxite mining companies in Guyana. The other two being the Chinese owned Bosai Minerals Group Guyana (BMGG), and controversial Russian-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI), a subsidiary of aluminum giant RUSAL. Unlike BCGI and BOSAI however, the government does not have any shares in GINMIN.
GINMIN commenced pilot operations at the site in June 2018, spending the past year conducting “scale up” trials to test the market for the bauxite supplying approximately 20, 000 tonnes so far. Thursday’s opening marked the company’s commencement of commercial production.

GINMIN has licences for mining operations at Bonasika One, Two, Five, Six and Seven, with the company’s mining area stretching across approximately 19000 acres. It is currently mining at Bonasika 7, which has approximately 4.9 million tonnes of high grade bauxite.
Though the operation is said to be the smallest of Guyana’s three, the bauxite at the mines is praised for being not only the highest grade in Guyana, but the highest in the world.
“Very good deposits, flat high grade and everything the industry needs, unique to Guyana,” explained Senior Geologist, Neville Clementson. Also present at the opening ceremony were Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Finance Minister, Winston Jordan and Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Newell Dennison.
At Thursday’s opening ceremony the company was commended for its investment in social corporate responsibility, environmental best practices, as well as its good employee and community relations. Highlighting these areas was Minister of Finance Winston Jordan.

“When I first came here I was absolutely blown by the sheer organisation, the respect for the environment and the A-grade for safety I saw here. I was happy to hear that you don’t have any labour relations problem and we hope you keep it that way. I wish you great success and look forward to seeing it grow,” Jordan told the gathering that included several GINMIN employees.

FBX President and CEO, Bill Rice, pledged that the company will remain committed to these values.

“We want to ensure that we are supporting Guyana to meet your goals and objectives. That is our commitment and we want to not just say it but we want to walk the walk. We feel confident as we start these steps of our journey that we have started on the right foot,” Rice said.

Rice highlighted that respect and value of contributions and views, and the highest standard of safety will be the order of the day at the company.

“We want to make sure we are conforming to treat everyone we work with, with respect and value their contributions. That will manifest itself in our commitment to safety and the safety culture we want in our business,” Rice said.

Rice thanked the employees, surrounding communities, local contractors and government for all being on board to see the realisation of operations at the mines.
The company has committed to ensuring that over 96 percent of its workforce will be Guyanese, a pledge it has thus far lived up to. Of the 95 permanent employees and 130 contracted employees only eight of the staff are expatriates.

The company has also begun to tangibly show its commitment to its social corporate responsibility to the communities, investing US$92,000 for a new school building at Sand Hills Primary; building a teachers’ quarters and providing materials to the school; contributing US$45,000 to a new church building; providing electricity and potable water to the communities; and promising US$54,000 in scholarships and student assistant for children in the community across the 15 years. Rice also thanked FBX’s financier and parent company, Resource Capital Fund VI LP (RCF VI). The company expects that it will process and ship approximately 200, 000 tonnes of bauxite by year end, aiming for a maximum capacity of approximately 320, 000 tonnes annually.