…with FBC’s opening up bauxite belt north of Linden through to Kwakwani
HUNDREDS of millions of US dollars in investments currently ongoing in the local bauxite industry will see employment for thousands of Guyanese along the bauxite belt from north of Linden right through to Kwakwani on the Berbice River.
“This is not a pipe dream; this is already happening,” President Bharrat Jagdeo said yesterday at the inking of a mineral agreement, the fifth in recent weeks. This one was between the government and the Canadian company, First Bauxite Corporation (FBC) for establishment of a bauxite mine at Bonsika, Essequibo River, ten miles above Parika.
Those present at the signing included PPP/C Presidential Candidate, Donald Ramotar, Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, Chairman of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Major General (Rtd) Joe Singh, Commissioner of the GGMC, Mrs Karen Livan, and senior officials of FBC.
At the signing ceremony held at Office of the President yesterday, the Head of State pointed out that apart from the agreement with FBC, government had granted one additional block of land each to bauxite companies RUSAL and BOSAI, enabling them to extend their operations significantly, a development which will further accelerate the impact of the mining sector on the economic development of Guyana and Guyanese within the next three to seven years.
President Jagdeo disclosed that the block given to RUSAL will facilitate the expansion of its production from the current rate of 1.2 million tonnes of bauxite per year to five million tonnes per year by 2015 and ten million tonnes per year by 2018.
“These developments will have a huge impact on New Amsterdam. There will be the need for a new turning basin at the mouth of the Berbice River, as well as other investments arising out of the logistics of shipping an unprecedented 10 million tonnes of bauxite against the current 1.2 million tonnes per year. That will mean a world of jobs in Berbice”
He said too that the block given to BOSAI to expand its production will see huge job creations just around the corner.
He said that when Presidential Candidate, Donald Ramotar mentioned 1000 new jobs in Linden at a recent rally there, some people said that it was a pipe dream.
“This is not even futuristic. It is happening. At least 1000 people will be employed in the Linden Kwakwani corridor and many more in the construction phase; 1000 stable jobs and many more in New Amsterdam. This is about a US$300M investment in bauxite that we can foresee, apart from and in addition to this investment by FBC, in the near future.”
At yesterday’s signing ceremony, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Mr. Hilbert N. Shields said that the company and its local subsidiary, Guyana Industrial Minerals Corporation (GINMIN), had over the past four years developed the Bonasika bauxite resources from a historical resource of 1.6 million tonnes to over 12 million tonnes.
The new resource, he said, will facilitate a project life of 44 years on a production of 100,000 tonnes per year.
He said that FBC will be first in new technology which does not emit dust as in the other bauxite operations in the country.
He explained: “FBC will be using environmentally friendly plants which have zero emissions, so that the dust issues which are historically associated with Linden will be avoided, since we have approached it with different up-to-date technology that negates that.”
The FBC intends to start construction of the bauxite mine at Bonasika and related infrastructure, such as a roll-on roll-off wharf at Soesdyke, roads, permanent camp accommodations and office buildings, by early 2012.
This construction will take about 18 months and the company hopes to commission the project by the end of 2013, and be in full production in 2014.
FBC had earlier disclosed that it will be using the Demerara River for access and the resultant development in this area will see the availability of many jobs during the construction phase and after.
In remarks prior to the signing, Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds observed that although it was known that a bauxite belt extended from the Pomeroon, through  Bartica, to Linden and Ituni, and up to Orealla, no arrangements had been made for the commercial exploitation of the belt north of Linden.
He commended FBC and its CEO/Director Shields for being pioneers in exploring and developing the bauxite belt north of Linden, noting that their pioneering had paid off and opened up a new area for the further economic growth of Guyana and Guyanese.
He wished the company success in all of its endeavors.
At the ceremony CEO Shields presented Prime Minister Samuel Hinds with a copy of FBCs Bankable Feasibility Study which is based on, among other factors, a premise that the global demand for bauxite is likely to grow steadily over the next 10 to 15, with nominal and real refractory grade bauxite prices rising over the next ten years.