The bauxite kilns at Linden have not been fired up for over a month now since there is no smoke wafting from their chimneys, Lindeners say.
Some are worried that the community’s largest private-sector employer, Chinese owned BOSAI Minerals Group Guyana Inc, has reduced its activity. Efforts to contact BOSAI’s General Manager Steven Ma at his office and on his mobile phone and by email for a comment proved futile.
This newspaper understands but was unable to confirm, that company officials may be looking at a temporary stoppage of work. There is also information which suggests that the government is working with the company to prevent any such move, apart from an assurance by President Bharrat Jagdeo earlier this year that the company will not close. The government owns 30% of the company and the Chinese 70%.
Either way, it is evident that the depressed bauxite market is strongly impacting the Chinese company. Other information also indicates that a high-level BOSAI team from China is expected this month.
In April, BOSAI’s then Human Resources Manager, Peter Benny, had told Chinamining.org, a website sponsored by the China Mining Association (CMA), that BOSAI would shut down one of its two bauxite production kilns, reducing this year’s production target of 280,000 tonnes by 30%. Most of Bosai’s metallurgical grade bauxite is exported to the United States for use in the steel industry. Benny had said that the demand for metallurgical-grade bauxite had fallen because of reduced demand for steel used in construction and other industries that have also suffered a decline.
In May, an official from BOSAI had told this newspaper that it could not say if further retrenchments were planned for this year, this was after over 100 workers had lost their jobs.
The official could not say if the markets were showing signs of turning around either. Union officials confirmed that those retrenched were workers that were hired last – some 30 permanent staff — casual and contractual workers. In addition to job cuts, the company had also reportedly cut back on man hours.
Businesses in the community were also feeling the drawbacks of the negative economic returns for the company, through lower purchase orders from BOSAI, which had begun importing more industrial products, in place of local purchases.
In April 2007, the Chinese owned BOSAI began operating the bauxite company after striking a US$46 million deal with the previous owners of Omai Bauxite Inc, Canada-based Iamgold, for its 70% stake.
A US$1B aluminium refinery was also on the cards for BOSAI, but the global financial crisis has stalled this move (This plant is expected to produce up to one million tonnes, that is, 900,000 metric tonnes, of bauxite a year). BOSAI as of last August had around 650 employees, after taking over operations with around 500 workers. With the job cuts the workforce may be around just 500.
Retrenched workers told this newspaper that they are either living on savings or on side jobs that they had held along with their permanent jobs.
