Information on the amounts of activated charcoal which was exported from Guyana by the Omai gold mining company is being compiled by the entity.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, in a written reply to a question asked by GAP/ROAR MP Everall Franklin on the quantity of activated charcoal exported by the Canadian company during its last 10 years while its operations were on-going in the Essequibo, stated that the information is still being compiled.
According to the Prime Minister, Omai is still attempting to locate information on how much activated charcoal was re-exported (for smelting purposes) as against quantities of the product which was imported over the last 10 years of its operations.
He stated that activated charcoal did not attract much attention and any special reporting or recording of information to this effect while the company was operating here between 1993-2005 but according to him the relevant information is being sourced from the residual offices here.
Franklin also questioned what companies received the product for regeneration and whether the authorities were in possession of any reports of the regeneration process undertaken by such companies.
According to the Prime Minister, activated charcoal was regenerated at a site in a special small rotary calciner which is now in an equipment yard at Christianburg in the Region 10 area. In the beginning, he noted, the undersize activated carbon/charcoal was sent to Asarco, a smelting/mining/refining company based in Arizona in the United States and later on to Noranda, a former mining company in Quebec. These companies smelted the ‘fines’ to recover any gold remaining in the charcoal, the Prime Minister noted.
Activated charcoal, also called activated carbon or activated coal is a form of carbon that has been processed to make it extremely porous. It is used in gas purification, gold purification, metal extraction, water purification, medicine and sewage treatment among other processes.
