Bosai Minerals Group (Guyana) Inc created history in Linden yesterday when the Dust Collector System for Kiln #14 was put into full operation, the first for a bauxite company there and after years of complaints by residents of the town about medical problems caused by the emissions.
The system on Kiln #14 was completed on June 30, 2012 by the Chinese company and was put into full operation yesterday at 9:40 am after several years of delays.
“This is a giant step for Bosai as the company fulfilled its promise to the Linden community to have dust collector systems installed on the kilns in the Bauxite Plant to trap the dust being emitted that is of great environmental concern to the residents,” said an official of the company.
As was anticipated by the team that worked on the project, when the system was put into operation, there was no dust emission from the kiln, only mist.
Preparatory work for this project started in the bauxite plant in January of 2011 for both systems (Dust Collectors for kiln #13 and #14) when the first shipment of materials arrived on Guyana’s shores. The actual construction of the foundation base for Kiln #14 started at the beginning of March 2011.
Since the urgency to have the systems up was a factor, Bosai Management said it put all its energy towards completing the system on Kiln #14 while simultaneously working on Kiln #13, which is about 35% completed.
Both collectors cost over US$7 million. Bosai had held meetings as far back as 2008 on putting the dust collectors for the two kilns in place and the third quarter of 2009 had been targeted as the completion date at one point. This deadline and several others were not met. Bosai took over the bauxite operations in Linden in March of 2007.
Prior to Bosai’s advent, the state bauxite company and others ran operations without dust collectors. Lindeners had complained about this problem as far back as 1972.
