Over the 15 years that the First Bauxite Corporation’s mine in Sand Hills, Region Three, is expected to be in operation, over US$387 million will be injected in the local economy, Company official Ian Christie said yesterday.
Christie, Vice-President of Government Relations with First Bauxite, made the disclosure during a tour of the company’s Bonasika Bauxite Project, which is still in the construction phase. When full production starts later in the year, the company projects that US$387.35 million will be injected into the country over the 15-year life of the mine, an estimation could increase.
Christie, who is also a Director of Guyana Industrial Minerals Inc., the licence holder and operator of the Bonasika Bauxite Project, noted that while currently only 200 tonnes of bauxite per day is being produced and shipped offshore to be tested and made into products for marketing, when full operations begin over 300,000 metric tonnes of washed bauxite will be produced. This would be achieved with a planned workforce of over 240 persons, 96% of whom will be Guyanese. As a result, the project’s employee earnings for the period is pegged at US$111.5 million.
Data provided by Christie also projected a total of US$49.8 million in earnings to the government over the 15 years. Royalties, calculated on the assumption that a metric tonne of the ore will cost US $95 will account for US $6.41 million, while the Mining Licence Fee is expected to rake in US $1.42 Million. Employee PAYE (Pay As You Earn) taxes will result in a payment of US $18.95 million to the government, while the contractor’s Withholding Tax and the Guyana Industrial Minerals Inc Company Tax is anticipated to earn US $5.53 million and US $17.47 million, respectively.
“This is the first area for development of the mine and it’s one of seven open pits which we have identified in our feasibility study. And after extensive drilling for a number of years, we found that this one was the highest grade material in our total mine lease, so we started here… and we’ve been doing some trial mining here for the last two years,” he said, while noting that over 14 months ago, they received approval from the government to export over 40,000 tonnes of test material to China and Spain to conduct trials.
‘Purest in the world’
The tests showed that the bauxite ore that was found in the mine is the purest ore in the world to their knowledge and can be used to develop “some very high level tertiary products capable for very specialised needs,” such as the oil and gas industry and applications in constructing jet engines.
“The trial mining is continuing and will continue until about November this year and at that point in time, we will be bringing in a brand new set of heavy-duty large scale washing and processing equipment, and that will enable us to produce at a rate of five times higher than our trial processing washing plant at this point in time,” Christie explained.
Currently, the company’s operations are still in the construction phase, since the mine is located some 24 kilometres away from the Sand Hills community. As a result, they have had to take on the construction of a road from the community to the mine, which is still being completed.
Christie said that their completion status is over 50% if the fabrication of components that is being undertaken overseas is factored in.
“The whole road was the construction priority and we are quite well advanced and we expect to go through the commission late in October, November,” he said.
When questioned about the total investment cost, Christie said that when factoring in the preliminary capital, the total investment cost will be approximately US$45 million.
In addition to the mining aspect of the operation, they will also be constructing an exporting facility in the Sand Hills community, where the extracted ore will be loaded onto ships and directly sent to their buyers.
Though the lifespan of the mine is predict to last somewhere between 15 to 17 years, other operations will further extend the company’s presence in the country to about 25 years, which Christie said is a great opportunity for Guyana.
The company has also been working with the local loggers and the Sand Hills community, and has committed the spending of an estimated US $1.25 million in different areas to enhance the community.
With respect to the loggers, they have since joined forces with the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) to tag species of wood around their concession. When the logs are cleared due for the construction, they would stockpile them in preparation for them to be collected by the loggers in the community. Since they have also been using the loggers’ access roads to reach their mining areas as their own is under construction, they have also assisted in its maintenance.
Giving a breakdown of their planned contributions to the community, Christie pointed out that the construction of a new school building this year will rack up a cost of US$422,000, while electricity reticulation to community houses will cost US 3$85,000, and potable water supply to the bulk header tank will cost US$50,000 for this year.
They will also contribute US$45,000 to the church building fund, and through secondary school and University of Guyana scholarships, will contribute US$54,000 over a 15-year period.
The cost for electricity and water supply over the 15-year period will also attract a cost of US$243,000 and US$45,000, respectively, while the supply of school materials, sports equipment and Christmas presents for the children in the community will cost US$15,000 over the 15-year period.
