GUYANA’S BAUXITE; 100 YEARS OF OPERATION

Oct 14, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Guyana, the only English Speaking Country in South America, a small developing country of a size of 83,000 square miles, and with a population of about 750,000 people. This beautiful country is blessed with many natural resources, such as Bauxite, Gold, Diamond, Manganese etc. just lately Exxon Mobile discover large oil find.
This year Guyana (Linden) will complete 100 years of bauxite mining, which started some 68 miles up the Demerara River at a place called Maria Elizabeth and nearby Akyma. This special reddish, greyish material was first discovered in 1821 near a village called Lex-Baux, about 50 miles North West of Marseilles in France when Pierre Berthier of the French Royal Corp of Mines analyzed samples of that non-plastic material which was then called bauxite. It is not known when bauxite was first discovered in the then British Guiana, but the Christianburg deposits on the left bank of the Demerara River were first seen by Sawkins in 1868.
He did not recognize it then, and even when Barrington Brown saw the deposits in 1873, he did not know it was bauxite. Sir John Harrison, who analyzed samples from Christianburg in early 1910, was the first person to identify it as bauxite. However, the results were not published until June, 16 1910 in the Nation Official Gazette. In the follow up to this discovery, a Scottish Geologist by the name of George Bain Mackenzie visited the area in 1912 and collected samples of the ore also for testing. He was understood to be a pioneer for Alcoa. In 1914, he brought lands for mining on the eastern bank of the Demerara River. It was also understood that he was able to purchase unoccupied lands at very cheap prices from owners, because he claimed he would cultivate orange there.
Very few persons at that time had known anything about bauxite and its potential value. A paper was presented in London in 1916 on the occurrence of bauxite in Guyana; it generated great interest in London and the USA. The Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) in the same year incorporated the Demerara Bauxite Company (DEMBA). The Demerara Bauxite Company had acquired almost all the lands in Linden and surrounding areas. It commenced bauxite mining in 1917 at Maria Elizabeth of which 2,037 tons of ore was extracted and exported. In 1922 the operation was expanded and processing and shipping facilities were established at Mackenzie.
In 1929, Alcoa handed over the operation to its Canadian associate, Alcan, and production continued at a steady rate over the next decade. As the Bauxite operations expanded so was the population, with about 70% of Afro- Guyanese and about 30% Indo Guyanese and about 2% others. The Amerindians who existed there migrated from other part of the country to Bauxite Town area to work at the Bauxite Company or to do business at Linden. At the outbreak of World War 2 the Company was already positioned to supply the raw material needed for the war requirements.
Aluminum was in great demand during wartime. This created greater expansion of the company’s operations. A railway was establish to allow for the transport of bauxite from the mines, also the first bridge was built across the Demerara River to extract ore from the Hope mine on the West Bank of the Demerara River. This mine had contained large tonnage of bauxite and had a shallow overburden, making it comparatively easy to mine the ore there. In other mining areas ore was located at depth 50 to 100 ft. and some cases up to 200 feet below surface soil. There was a slump in the Bauxite Industry between 1930 and 1936 and causes some hardship. However, trade pickup around 1939 and the demand continued to increase and in1943, the peak output of 1,900,000 tons of bauxite was reached.
Between 1917 and 1971, the bauxite companies exported over 60 million tons of bauxite, calcine and aluminum, valued over billions. In 1956 the export was 2,085,243 tons valued at G$29,335,099 at that time. In the same year Demba started the construction of a 300,00 tons Alumina Plant at Speightland which was completed in 1961 and was commission by the late great father of this Nation Dr. Cheddie Jagan, then Minister of Trade and Industry. I must mention that during the erection of the plant persons who were dwelling nearby had to be relocated, however there was one person, Mother Hubbard who refused to move and I think her house is still standing in that area near the Old Plant. On April 5th 1970 Prime Minister Forbes Burnham announced to the nation the firm policy of his Government was to take control of all Natural resources.
This triggered negotiations with Demba to have major control of the Bauxite Company and the request in the first instance was to have 51% share and Demba 49% share of the Company. During those discussions Demba requested to have a re-capitalization of the Company and requesting the Government to provide their part of US$22.5 million to put into the enterprise. That meant that the Government would have had to borrow money (an I.B.R.D loan was suggested in advance of the agreement). Also Alcan requested to have the C.E.O and 30% the profit of the Company. The Burnham Administration did not agree to that.
Andrew Forsythe
Former Board Member of Bosai

Editor’s note: This is a long letter. Its other half will appear in a subsequent edition.

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