The promised investment by the Chinese bauxite-mining company Bosai in dust extractors for its operations at Linden will probably benefit the company much more than it will the community, Region Ten Chairman Sharma Solomon has said.
“While there is much doubt as to whether the new systems will bring that much relief to the people of the community, Bosai will be able to recover about 8 tonnes of bauxite per day from the systems,” Solomon said.
Linden has witnessed a number of protests in recent years over promises by the Chinese management of the company to install the dust extractor systems and Sharma said what struck residents of Linden was the apparent failure of the local Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cause the company to honour its undertaking. “We believe that it is a matter of oversight. The problem exists as it is because of a lack of oversight,” Solomon said.
And not for the first time, the Region Ten Chairman has expressed skepticism as to whether the planned installation of the dust extractors would remedy the problem of dust pollution and the attendant health-related problems being experienced by Lindeners. Solomon explained that the current Bosai commitment to install extractors was limited to two of three kilns – kilns 13 and 14. “As I understand it the arrangement does not cover kiln ten and the argument that has been made is that the dust emanating from that kiln is not as coarse as that which emanates from the other two. I would have thought that this would be a reason for having a dust extractor there too,” Solomon said.
According to the Regional Chair-man while bauxite will continue to have a role to play in the Linden economy, it is important to note that the community hosts the bauxite mining and processing operations “at a high price.” He explained that the costs were, among other things, health-related and that those considerations carried additional financial burdens which the people of Linden had to bear.
Asked about the likelihood that Bosai would keep its most recent promise to install the dust extractors Solomon said since it had become apparent that the EPA’s efforts to have this done had borne little fruit the people of Linden would be monitoring the situation with a view to taking the necessary action at the appropriate time.
