First Bauxite Corporation (FBC), the Company which discovered high grade commercial deposits of bauxite a mere 26 miles away from Georgetown, says it has since also found surface bauxite at Lower Waratila Cartwright ( LWC), close to the  recently discovered Bonasika bauxite deposits.
In a release, the Canadian-based Company disclosed that it was pleased to announce that company geologists had discovered outcrops of high quality bauxite exposed in a creek bed in the South-West sector of the (LWC) Prospecting License (PL) near Bonasika.

It said that the company has since mobilized its sonic drill rig to test this “exciting discovery”,  and to date 83 holes at a spacing of 120 x 120 m have been drilled, totaling 3133m.

During this exercise, the company encountered significant bauxite intercepts at surface and just below surface level.

Commenting on the find of bauxite at surface level, CEO of FBC, Hilbert Shields, stated that it was a very exciting development which offers the potential to significantly optimize the Bonasika Project and add to the resource base and project life.

He said, “While it was known from the historical Alcan drilling that bauxite resources existed on the LWC PL, the average depth of overburden was close to 50 meters.

This is why the Company focused the Feasibility Study on the Bonasika deposits which have shallower overburden.

But higher quality LWC bauxite, under a relatively thin overburden cover, offers the potential to significantly optimize the Bonasika Project and add to the resource base and project life.
Shields disclosed that the company has embarked on an aggressive programme to delineate a compliant mineral resource at LWC and will initiate a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) aimed at integrating the LWC deposit into the Bonasika Development Plan and so enhance the project economics in this hitherto relatively unknown area of coastal bauxite deposits.

FBC also explained that its mission  is to become a near term, medium size producer and supplier of high quality refractory grade sintered (calcined) bauxite in Guyana.

It currently controls a large land package in Guyana’s historical coastal bauxite belt,
including the Bonasika Mining License and the LWC PL, covering deposits which were drilled in 1940’s-60’s by ALCAN.

The Company recently completed a feasibility study on the Bonasika Project and announced its results on July 29, 2010.

The study defined and confirmed the viability of an operation based on mining of  three bauxite deposits located on the Bonasika Mining License by open-pit, truck and excavator mining, with the mined ore trucked for processing at a central wash plant facility located less than 2 km from the Bonasika 1 &2 pits.

The wash plant concentrate will be transported 23 km to the sintering plant and load out facilities at Sand Hills.

The mine which is being pursued is expected to operate at a production rate of 298,500 metric tonnes of raw, dry bauxite per year, or 1,148 tonnes per day.

The planned wash plant will produce 162,232 tonnes of washed bauxite concentrate and the two vertical pressurised shaft kilns will produce 100,000 tonnes per year of sintered bauxite final product.

The company is currently drilling the LWC deposits to outline the resources and to upgrade the historical reserves.

The discovery of commercial quantities of high grade refractory bauxite being found  at Bonasika on the left bank of the Demerara River, just opposite Timehri, was made public last week.
Commissioner of Geology and Mines Commission William Woolford last week  confirmed the receipt of the feasibility report indicating the amazingly high quality bauxite at  Bonasika so close to the mouth of the Demerara River and far away from the traditional areas of known high quality bauxite deposits.
Mr. Woolford stressed that the Bonasika discovery was of great economic significance.
“First off, up to weeks ago, when people asked you about bauxite in Guyana, you would think Linden and/or Kwakwani. Bonasika was unknown. Now you have to add Bonasika,” he said.
The consequent availability of over 200 jobs are just a few of the benefits to be achieved by locals if all goes as planned for FBC up to 2012, he added.
He said the Bonasika discovery should be an eye opener for the large bauxite companies as well as local geologists, since it demonstrated that  areas in Guyana  which had been ignored when searching  for bauxite are now proving themselves.
FBC has requested from the Government a mineral agreement and fiscal incentives so that it can put arrangements in place to start mining at Bonasika in 2012.