Officials from the Bosai Mineral Group Guyana on Tuesday assured President Bharrat Jagdeo that the global financial crises will not have a great impact on plans to establish an alumina plant at Linden or on plans to develop other sectors.

Company Secretary Norman McLean said the crisis will have less of an impact on Guyana’s bauxite industry since it is producing refractory A-grade super calcined bauxite which has not been as hard-hit as metal-grade bauxite.

According to a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) General Manager Stephen Ma said the feasibility study for the construction of the project is expected to be completed by the end of June. The meeting also discussed Bosai’s plans to diversify its investments to develop sectors such as agriculture and forestry. Vice President John Liu and International Project Manager Jing Kun Fang also attended the meeting.

According to GINA, the government and Bosai signed a US$1B agreement on November 25, 2008 to establish an alumina plant in Linden, Region Ten. The investment which is almost the size of the country’s Gross Domestic Product is expected to provide employment for about 700 persons and will have a permanent work force of 1000.

Linden is earmarked for the project in order to drive development in the mining town which has suffered economic decline. However, Jagdeo cautioned that the financial crisis is likely to impact the project’s timeline since the demand for all commodities including alumina and its products has fallen significantly.

GINA said the meeting was hosted at State House.