The Ministry of Home Affairs says bauxite company RUSAL could have employed a more efficient method to dispose of expired explosives that would have avoided the explosion that injured seven persons at Kwakwani earlier this year.
In a press release issued on Friday, the ministry said it received a police report on the incident and it was satisfied that a proper investigation had been done. The March 2 incident resulted in seven persons being injured and the company losing a vehicle. The ministry said it hoped that the company would remember this mishap when undertaking similar exercises in the future.
The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) had also been tasked by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment to conduct an investigation into the mishap. GGMC Commissioner Rickford Vieira had said that the Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated (BCGI) a subsidiary of RUSAL, was found to have violated what are considered to be standard procedures when disposing of the type of explosive material in question. Vieira had also said that punitive measures would be applied to the company, although it remains unclear if this was ever done.
A week after the blast, Stabroek News had posed several questions to RUSAL but had been told that the company’s head was overseas and could not respond. This newspaper was asked to submit a list of questions which the company would respond to when the chairman returned to no avail.
