A US-based company says it is actively pursuing the development of a bauxite mining project at Linden and has applied for exploration licences from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
Metallica Commodities Corp, in a statement published in today’s Sunday Stabroek, said that its research has identified a number of small unallocated virgin and residual (previously mined and abandoned) bauxite deposits on the West Bank of the Demerara River at Linden in close proximity to the river which preliminary studies indicate could be quickly developed, economically mined and large enough to sustain a viable long-term bauxite operation.
“The company’s marketing intelligence has identified a growing demand for high alumina, trihydrate bauxite of the type in the Guyana deposits for sweetening the rapidly increasing lower grade bauxites being produced around the world and has identified several alumina refineries that have expressed interest in purchasing substantial quantities of such bauxite on a long-term basis,” the statement said.
The company said that it has already applied to the GGMC for exclusive exploration licences to a number of these deposits. It added that it has already identified a reliable source of financing and is ready to undertake the necessary exploration activities, secure mining permits and pursue the development of a viable bauxite operation in the area that could provide permanent long-term employment for 100-120 persons at various levels.
According to the statement, Metallica has been involved in trading of minerals and metals worldwide since 2000. The company said that it is also engaged in the management of a small-scale copper mine in Tanzania and base metal exploration in Uganda. Its Guyana subsidiary, Metallica CC (Guyana) Inc is currently engaged in the production of stone products for road construction and sea and river defence and in gold mining at the former Omai Mines site on the Essequibo River and will shortly be installing a mobile crusher, which has already arrived in the country, for the production of sized aggregates for both the domestic and export markets, the statement said.
According to the company’s website, Metallica started business in September 2001. Its core businesses are metals and minerals trading, mineral asset development and the mining and sale of aggregates and dimension stone. “We trade both non-ferrous and ferrous metal containing materials, as well as fertilizers to the Agri Industry,” it says.
Information on the website says that Metallica through its Guyana subsidiary secured the exclusive rights to mine dimension stone and aggregates at the site of the “recently closed” Omai Gold Mines Limited Mining Lease area in the Cuyuni-Mazaruni district of Guyana.
It said that in 2011, MCC began the production of an assortment of “aggregate” products and has secured supply contracts with several leading local contractors. Deliveries via MCC’s fleet of trucks, as well as contracted transporters, began in the fourth quarter of 2011, the website says.
It also says that its ferrous trading activities are centralized around a scrap yard in Georgetown while scrap is also sourced in the Caribbean and Africa.
