The Guyana Manganese Inc (GMI) says it shipped 107,230 tonnes of ore last year and declared that it is “absolutely not” involved in the extraction, processing or exportation of gold.
In a statement yesterday, the Matthews Ridge, northwest-based company was responding to several reports in the Kaieteur News (KN).
Royalties of $21,450,000 was paid last year to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), GMI disclosed.
It said that the manganese ore is basically crushed and washed in its processing plant so there are no mechanisms in place to capture gold or “separating mills” as was claimed by KN.
Also addressed by the Chinese company was the claim that Guyanese workers are excluded from parts of its operation.
GMI said “Our Guyanese employees are involved in all aspects of our operation. In fact, most of our departments are headed by Guyanese, e.g., Workshop, Mines, General Affairs, Warehouse and Security. All our Operators and Drivers are also Guyanese and are involved in Mining, Milling, Transporting and Loading of Manganese from the Mine to the ocean going vessels at the mouth of the Waini River”.
It added that its operation is inspected on a quarterly basis by GGMC.
“This inspection ranges from safety to environmental issues. There is no part of our operation that is inaccessible to our local employees or GGMC. We have nothing to hide”, it asserted.
It added that its fleet of trucks consists of 40-25 ton trucks and not 60 tons as reported by KN. Further, the loading of the manganese barges is done by GMI’s Operators both at Port Kaituma and at the transshipment point at the mouth of the Waini River. Guyanese are also employed on the Barges as Able-Bodied Seamen.
GMI said that the ships can only be loaded with the quantity of manganese ore that is available for export due to the haulage bottleneck from Matthews Ridge to Port Kaituma. So as to save on the cost of the chartered vessel and to use the space available, bauxite may then be loaded onto the same vessel at the Waini Point and not at Linden.
These vessels are compartmentalized and have different hatches so that the manganese and bauxite are separate. GGMC and Customs officers are involved in the loading process, GMI said.
