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A MILESTONE REACHED IN GUYANA
The saying that nothing lasts forever is true for many issues but more so for the bauxite industry in Guyana. Bauxite mining, which was a thriving industry in the country for decades, has now been reduced to fragments. The mining of commercial bauxite in Guyana is 100 years old. It began in 1916 in the town of Mackenzie, named after the American geologist of Scottish descent, George Bain Mackenzie. The name Mackenzie was used to refer to the bauxite mining communities of Christianburg, Wismar and Mackenzie.
In 1913, Mackenzie first visited the area to explore for bauxite. Having seen the potential of bauxite, he returned a year later and bought lands to mine bauxite. In 1916, the Demerara Bauxite Company Limited known as DEMBA, a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of Canada Limited, was established with the objective to mine, process and sell bauxite. Mackenzie, which is 65 miles from Georgetown, became the center of the company’s operations. In 1970, the three villages of Wismar, Christianburg and Mackenzie were unified and renamed the township of Linden after Prime Minister Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham by the PNC government. Linden is the second largest town in Guyana after Georgetown with a population of approximately 30,000 residents and is the capital of the Upper-Demerara-Berbice region.
Before bauxite was discovered, Christianburg was considered the seat of Government, having the police headquarters, the district emissary and the Magistrate’s Court. The determining factors in choosing that particular location (Mackenzie) was to facilitate easy access for ocean going vessels and the readily available labor force in the region. However, the commencement of bauxite mining and production saw an influx of persons from across the country and migrants, mostly men from several Caribbean islands, including Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and St Lucia to work at the bauxite company. Many Islanders who developed relationships with the locals, got married and had children were enticed by good paying jobs at the company. As a result, the population of Mackenzie, Wismar and Christianburg grew from 3,000 to roughly 5,000.
Initially, the mining and shipping of bauxite was done in a crude form with shovels and axes and mule carts to remove the remnants before it was loaded onto barges and onto ships marooned on the Demerara River. DEMBA has not only produced bauxite, but also built housing facilities for its permanent local and foreign work force. The monetary spin-offs from the company led to the establishment of several ancillary services, including machine shops, carpentry shops, an electrical shop, a power generation and distribution system, potable water supply and a hospital. The bauxite giant built a prosperous community which depended on external sources for its supply of food.
However, in keeping with its policy to control the commanding heights of the economy, the Government of Forbes Burnham nationalized DEMBA on 15 July 1971 after the company refused its request for a 51 percent share of its assets. DEMBA was renamed the Guyana Bauxite Company Limited (GUYBAU). On 1 January 1975, its sister company in Berbice, Reynolds Metal Company suffered the same fate. It was nationalized and renamed the Berbice Mining Enterprise Limited (BERMINE).
Following the nationalizationof both bauxite entities, the government, in October 1977 merged the two operations under the name of Guyana Mining Enterprise Limited (GUYMINE) which was dissolved by the Hoyte administration in June 1992. The Berbice Operations was reverted to its original name of BERMINE. GUYBAU was renamed the Linden Mining Enterprise (LINMINE).In December 2004, the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) was established and in March 2006, the world’s second largest bauxite company, United Company RUSAL, acquired 90 percent of BCGI.
Guyana has been a source of bauxite and its intermediate products. Prior to its nationalization and the various acquisitions, bauxite was a thriving industry and was one of the country’s main foreign currency earner. It has served Guyana well. But its future seems bleak as demand on the world market has declined.The mining of bauxite has reached a milestone in Guyana.
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