Parent company of Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI), Russian Aluminum (RUSAL), has announced the sale of a number of pieces of motorised equipment, a further sign that the company may move to wrap up its controversial operations here.
The items up for sale are double cab pickups, trucks and mobile cranes.
The announcement of the sale comes just a year after BCGI announced that it was suspending operations at the Aoraima Mines site. The company has been mum on whether it will be resuming operations here despite having discussions with the government.
Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat told this newspaper that since engaging with the directors of BCGI some months ago, they promised to inform the government on the future of operations here. However he said that there has been no communication and he will have to reach out to them for an update.
“We haven’t engaged RUSAL recently. We are still waiting for them to get back us because they were awaiting word from their principals in Moscow. I will have to reach out to them after the budget debates,” Bharrat said. The Ministry of Natural Resources has been handling the talks for possible restart.
Just after the PPP/C government took up office, BCGI was engaged in talks on a possible restart, but six months on, they remain mum on the future of operations here.
Last August during a meeting with the ministries and the GGMC, the company’s country representative, Vladimir Permakov, related that the blocking of the Berbice River by sacked workers to prevent barges from passing hindered critical work in the mines.
The company also said there are several technical matters which have to be addressed, such as the restoration of the mine for safe operation after it became flooded, according to a statement from the Natural Resources minister after the meeting.
The company’s representative had further disclosed that the operating costs for extracting Guyana’s bauxite was not competitive on the world market and there was now the potential added costs of remedial work to be done in the mine.
BCGI terminated over 300 workers at the end of January last year and announced the suspension of its operations.
Workers and the company have been in a decade-long dispute over wages and working conditions.
After months of protest, former workers who had maintained the blockade across the Berbice River following their dismissal in January, removed the barrier after the new PPP/C government assumed office in August.
General Secretary of Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union, Lincoln Lewis, had told this newspaper that the workers felt the new PPP/C-led government would not fully represent their interests over wages and salaries and working conditions. Given their experience with past PPP/C-led administrations, the sacked workers felt they should bring their industrial action to an end, he said.
