Dust collection system on stream for next year but more production could mean more dust this year
Amidst evidence of growing concern over dust emission from the bauxite plont at Linden, an official of the Chinese mining company BOSAI has told Stabroek Business that the company is preparing to make health-related interventions in affected communities at the end of March.
And according to the company’s Industrial Relations Manager Peter Benny the volume of dust emission over the mining town this year could increase further as BOSAI seeks to push its production target to more than 500,000 tons.
“Some residents of the community have complained about bronchial and other problems which they believe is linked to the dust emission and at the end of this month BOSAI will be commencing a medical outreach programme under which a team of medical personnel will spend a complete day at the health facilities in Wismar once monthly to diagnose and treat affected persons,” Benny told Stabroek Business earlier this week.
“The exercise will concentrate on residents on the west bank of the Demerara River and will focus on children, young mothers and pregnant women. The exercise will be mounted once monthly on the last day of each month and the cost of drugs and other forms of treatment will be borne by BOSAI,” he added.
Ongoing concerns over dust pollution in Linden surfaced afresh recently when several students from the New Silver City Secondary School fell ill amidst claims that their illness may have been linked to chemical emission from the bauxite plant. However, Benny told Stabroek Business that there is no evidence that the difficulties encountered by the children were linked to any emission from the bauxite plant. “We are satisfied that there is no chemical in use at the plant that can have that kind of effect,” Benny said.
Meanwhile, Benny conceded that “there are some pressures on the company” emanating from the community that are linked to the dust problem. He said that the company had met recently with community representatives in the mining town to brief them on its production plans for this year which he said will involve higher volumes of dust emission.
Earlier this week representatives of BOSAI met with officials of the local Environmental Protec-tion Agency (EPA) to discuss a ‘time line” for the installation of the promised dust collection facility at the plant.
“We have promised to provide a ‘time line’ which we will also share with the other stakeholders in the community,” Benny said.
Several months ago Benny told Stabroek Business that BOSAI was seeking to install a dust collection system next year. This week he said that a study which is being undertaken to determine an appropriate dust collection method was “well advanced” and that its promised installation next year was “on schedule.”
Meanwhile, work on the promised short-term measure of increasing the height of the stacks on the drier and the two kilns has been slowed. Benny said that while a promise had been made to the community to complete this project by the end of last year, fabrication work on the material to undertake the exercise had been delayed. ” The components for the addition to the dryer stack are close to completion and we expect that work on this phase of the project will be completed by mid-April.
As soon as this exercise is completed we will move on to the kilns,” Benny said. “We have not had two kilns working at Linden for more than fifteen years and we understand the community-related problems that have arisen as a result of the increased dust emission.
It is a problem that we have to face and overcome in consultation with the community,” Benny said.
