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Another multi-million dollar mining deal signed
…plugged as lifeline to resuscitate Linden’s bauxite mining
By Gary Eleazar
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and other key stakeholders yesterday signed another mineral Agreement, this time with First Bauxite Corporation of Canada for the construction and mining of a large-scale state-of-the-art facility at Linden.
Hilbert Shields, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, who signed on behalf of the Canadian company during the ceremony held at the Office of the President, said that all of the feasibility studies and necessary environmental requirements have been met, thus paving the way for the financing to be secured to commence the construction of the mine.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of First Bauxite Corporation, Hilbert Shields and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds exchange shake hands after signing the Bonasika Mineral Agreement
The company is looking to acquire the money to start construction of the project early next year. It will take about 18 months to build the mine with the intentions to have it commissioned by the end of 2013 and with full production in 2014.
In seeking to put the signing into context, Shields noted that the journey was embarked on some four years ago and began with the current Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, who was at the time working in the industry.
Shields said that his company will be focused on Greenfields Bauxite development technology that had a historical resource of 1.6M tonnes
“$20M and four years later with new technology for drilling, with technical support from the bauxite community in Guyana and with the introduction of expertise from foreign consultants with worldwide experience, we have evolved a world class exploration team,” said Shields.
He assured that his company is comfortable with the challenges of exploring for bauxite in Guyana and have revised the resource data from 1.6M tonnes in excess of 12M tonnes per year.
With the revised resource data, Shields said that mine will support a project life of 44 years.
He pointed out that the company will be utilizing state-of-the-art technology through the use of vertical shaft kilns thereby eliminating the problem of dust pollution that had plagued the mining town of Linden for years.
It was pointed out too that the company will have increased efficiency with new technology making the kilns some 40 percent more effective and will drastically reduce the cost of production.
Utilizing the old technology, the energy input accounts for close to 80 percent of the cost of production
“In terms of operations, we do recognize that in today’s world, the mining practice have to be sustainable and environmentally friendly,”
Shields assured that the company is in compliance with local and international standards which allow for the international banks to finance the project “While our expertise product and base comes from Guyana, it is a Canadian company and the drive comes out of the Canadian capital market,” he reminded.
Prime Minister Hinds told the stakeholders present at the signing that he is pleased to have formally sign the agreement with First Bauxite Corporation which would mean a renewed development drive for Linden and other surrounding communities.
He commended the company for taking up the challenge to develop the area
He said that the Mineral Agreement is similar to the one executed with the Omai Company but pointed out that the agreements were modified to accommodate the resource being mined.
Chairman of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Major General (rtd), Joe Singh, said that the signing of the agreement marks another significant step in the exploration of Guyana’s mineral resources. He pointed to the recent injections of capital in the industry.
“The landscape is changing when you consider the magnitude of these investments…all Guyanese should be proud of the fact that we have gotten to this stage in terms of sensible exploitation of our resources.”
He urged that the stakeholders collaborate extensively “to make sure we don’t get bogged down with bureaucracy” and “we need to anticipate intelligently the content of these agreements and ensure that we are well positioned to monitor and give effect to the implementation of the agreements.”
Singh said that he too looks forward to the positive impacts of the various agreements on the mining sector and its continued development of “the country and our people”
He did caution, however, that, “the impacts of all of these investments we have to take with strides.”
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