Guyana Manganese Inc. (GMI), which is currently mining in Region One, is scheduled to begin exporting shipments by March this year, Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh announced on Wednesday.
Singh made the announcement while providing an overview of the extractive industries during his budget presentation at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
“The project investment is pegged at US$75 million, and the annual production and shipment of manganese ore concentrates is targeted at 500,000 metric tonnes annually,” Singh said while noting that the extracted ore will be shipped from Port Kaituma.
GMI, a subsidiary of Chinese-owned bauxite BOSAI, began into production last year.
In a notice in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle newspaper in May last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notified the public that the Environmental Impact Assessment for the mining of manganese by GMI at Matthews Ridge, in Region One, had been approved.
The venture aims to resuscitate manganese mining and processing in Matthews Ridge and export from Port Kaituma, the company’s profile states.
It says that the current investment will focus on the historic, previously mined sites located in Matthews Ridge. Ore mined and processed in Matthews Ridge would be transported by land to Port Kaituma for shipment to Trinidad and Tobago.
“The Manganese Mine in Matthews Range has a proven reserves of nearly 30 million tonnes. Its mining life is designed to last for 12 years,” it adds.
The EPA had issued warning to the company last year after a reservoir collapsed, flooding several farms and homes at Matthews Ridge and washing away about 20 feet of the public road, isolating the community. Assessments found that there were no proper monitoring system in place at a collapsed reservoir.
The reservoir was the Company’s source of fresh water used during mining operations.
The mine was closed in March of 2019 when workers carrying out scoping works took ill and two – 47-year-old Zhenglong Zong and 45-year-old Zengguo Ji, both Chinese nationals – subsequently died from what the company said was leptospirosis and respiratory failure.
Following the outbreak, seven workers were air-dashed to the city, where they were quarantined at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) after experiencing flu-like symptoms, which led to the death of Zengguo at the Pakera District Hospital. An additional six workers were subsequently air-dashed to the city for treatment at the GPH and Zhenlong died while receiving medical attention there.
After the two workers succumbed, the Chinese government made a request for the 10 sick workers, all Chinese nationals, to be flown back home for medical attention. This request was granted and the men were flown back to their home country.
No update was given on the health of the 10 except for the Chinese government saying that they were showing signs of improvement about a week after the ordeal.
The company later admitted that the workers had entered the mine without protective gear.
While no mention of the deaths was made in the EIA, the document said that workers would be equipped with necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) during the execution of their duties.
