Guyana’s third bauxite plant will be commissioned today at Bonasika in the Upper Demerara River of Region 3 and the company has told government that if natural gas is brought onshore for domestic purposes it will build an aluminium smelter at its location.
“Our third bauxite company at Bonasika will be opening tomorrow…they said if we can bring natural gas in sufficient quantities, they are prepared to put a smelter right there in Guyana,” Jordan yesterday told attendees at the sod-turning event for a US$100M project at Ogle.
He said that the company’s officials have already informed of the high-quality bauxite mined from the location saying it is of the “finest” quality.
With projections that over US$387 million will be injected into the local economy from the operations, First Bauxite Company will officially be commissioned today.
The company has said that when at full operational capacity, 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.
Vice-President of Government Relations with Guyana Industrial Minerals, the operator of the Bonasika project, Ian Christie had last year told this newspaper, during a tour of the operations that the estimates could also increase.
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.
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.
The call by the company for natural gas onshore and thus cheaper energy for manufacturers has been the lament of local producers and manufacturers over the years as they have said that the current high rates make them uncompetitive with regional and international counterparts.
“Many of the longstanding jeopardies are inextricably linked to the high cost and unreliability of electrical power… Until we slay the beast of expensive and unreliable power, the private sector and particularly the manufacturing sector will continue to perform below potential resulting in a serious knock-on effect on jobs and on the wider economy,” Manufacturers’ President Clinton Williams had said in his address to the 24th Annual Presentation Awards and Dinner at the Pegasus Hotel last December.
The APNU+AFC government has proposed that as it seeks to transition to renewable energy, that natural gas be brought onshore in the interim and talks have been ongoing with ExxonMobil to this end.
