Even as the Chinese bauxite company continues to provide assurances that the worsening dust menace at Linden arising out of stepped up bauxite production will ease by next September with the installation of a new dust shield, residents of the mining community continue to express mixed feelings about the possible harmful effects of the problem and the extent to which the company should move to bring short-term relief from the problem.
Stabroek Business has been tracking the responses of both Bosai and Linden community leaders to complaints by residents over the problem and last week Bosai Industrial Relations Superintendent Peter Benny told this newspaper that an understanding had been reached with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the promised dust shield would be in place by the end of September. Benny disclosed that the September date represented “an adjustment” to the original time line of November next year which had been proposed by Bosai. This newspaper understands that the Linden Bosai operation has already been visited by a team of experts from China and that the specifications for the dust shield have already been agreed upon.
In recent weeks, however, the community response to the dust problem has come into sharp focus with Chairman of the Interim Management Committee of the Linden Town Council Orrin Gordon declaring that Bosai should be required to meet the cost of medical and research facilities to investigate the possible consequences of the dust pollution and make serious medical interventions where necessary.
However, when Stabroek Business put the issue to Benny he pointed out that there had been no studies done over time to determine the impact of the dust problem on Linden residents. “The problem is not new, it has been around for several years,” Benny said. The Bosai official conceded, however, “more bauxite means more dust.” Figures made available to this newspaper some weeks ago indicate that Bosai’s bauxite production targets far exceed those of their recent predecessor, Omai Bauxite Ltd. Benny told Stabroek Business several weeks ago that the company has set its production target at 500,000 tons. Last year the company produced more than 300,000 tons of bauxite.
The relationship between Bosai and Guyana has assumed additional significance in the wake of promises by the company to set up a multi million dollar alumina smelter here. Bosai has said that the results of a feasibility study into the building of the plant will become available early next year and government has made it clear that it is keen on the project and, significantly, has made no significant comment on the dust problem, preferring, it seems, to leave the EPA to handle issue.
In Linden, where residents have, in recent weeks, staged protests over the issue, opinions appear to vary on the issue of the physical effects of the dust problem. Nutritionist Dr. Joseph Haynes told Stabroek Business that he fears the mining community will begin to suffer from more bronchial and lung congestion problems. Haynes said that the dust problem will also impact on the digestive system since the emission also enters the food ingested by people. Haynes is of the view that the company should be made liable for medical problems arising out of the dust emission.
Interestingly, Chief Executive Officer of the Linden Hospital Complex, Gordon Gumbs has said that the dust emission is “more of a nuisance” Adding that respiratory infections among residents of the mining town is “nothing new.”
While Gumbs insists that a linkage between the dust emission and medical problems in the community is “still to be determined” a senior mining town official told Stabroek Business that it was “altogether unsatisfactory” that the community is still largely unaware of whether or not there is a link between the dust problem and the state of health of the community. “It really makes no sense to say we have no evidence of a connection. We need to carry out proper scientific tests to determine whether or not there is or could be a health problem.”
Asked whether he shared the view expressed by Gordon that Bosai should fund a facility for research and, where necessary, medical intervention, the official said that in the final analysis it is the government that has responsibility for the welfare of the people of Linden and, whoever pays, the initiative should come from the government.