EPA halts Bosai’s operations; imposes million dollar fine

Jan 15, 2020 News

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on January 10, last, halted production and other operations under the Chinese-owned company, Bosai Minerals Group Guyana Incorporated, following a breach in their tailings pond.
This breach caused several houses down-slope in the Linden community of Noitgedacht to be flooded with a red bauxite-type waste water which can be harmful to humans.
Due to this infraction, the Chinese company, which is operating in Linden, was fined $1 million by the environmental agency, last Friday.
This would be the second sanctioned imposed upon the bauxite company in one month, the first dating back to December 24, 2019 when the company was immediately charged for discharging waste water into the Kara Kara Creek.
For that, the company was summoned to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a cease-of-work order was imposed.
The EPA arrived at its $1M maximum fine based on what is stipulated by the country’s legislation.
One of the residents explained that she and her family woke up to several inches of water in their yard. She did not suspect the flooding to be caused by rain, since it had not rained prior to or on that day.
However, Bosai opted to clean the yards and homes of the five residences affected by the wastewaters and promised to repair and/ or reimburse those affected.
Executive Director of the EPA, Mr. Vincent Adams, explained that Bosai could no longer wash bauxite stockpiles as their operations were immediately halted.
Dr. Adams did note, however, that Bosai would not be allowed to resume their operations until remedial works were completed and approved by the EPA.
The Executive Director could not say of how long there had been discharges, since he only became aware of its knowledge until the residents made the report.

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