Dear Editor,
I want to thank Mr. Ian Christie, Director – Guyana Industrial Minerals for the short Geological History. `Why the Bonasika bauxite is the `purest’’ (SN February 15). I appreciate it very much that you have shared with us the typical high quality of the in situ Bauxite ore in the Bonasika deposit #6 & #7. (AL203 – 63%; SiO2 – 2.08% and Fe2O3 – 0.48%) re High Available Alumina; Low Silica & Low Iron Content.
Now that we have this important bit of information on the high quality of the in situ bauxite in the Bonasika deposit I would like to ask the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission to share with us what is the size of this deposit in terms of proven metric tons and in addition how have they categorized the bauxite deposit in terms of raw bauxite quality.
As it relates to the article in the Sunday Stabroek of February 10, 2019 re “Guyana projected to earn over US$387M from Bonasika Bauxite Project” I note the following:
#1 The mine is projected to last for approximately 15 years and during that period the Government will earn approximately US$49.8M. While I have much concerns about the total projected earnings to the Government I would like to flag one particular item projected – approximately US$6.41M in royalties payment over the 15 years. If this amount is correct the Guyana Government will earn approximately a projected US$427,000 per year for the purest bauxite in the world (High Quality) and
#2. That this High Quality ore from the Bonasika deposit is being tested in the material mix to make very High Level tertiary products for very specialized needs “such as the Oil & Gas Industry and application in constructing Jet Engines”.
I wonder if it will be asking too much for Mr. Ian Christie to share with us what are these products and what will be the projected selling price for a quantity of each product.
Yours faithfully,
Dunstan Barrow AA
