Executives of First Bauxite/Guyana Industrial Minerals and the government delegation comprising then Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo cutting the ribbon to declare the mine open last year. (DPI photo)
With production pegged last year between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes of bauxite, President of Guyana Industrial Minerals (GINMIN), a subsidiary of United States-based First Bauxite (FBX), Elliott Lincoln says operations remain in a “soft production” phase, a year after the mine and processing plant were commissioned at Bonasika in Region Three.
Speaking with Stabroek News in an exclusive interview, Lincoln on Thursday explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted their plans to increase production and forced the company to make decisions in the best interest of their employees.
“We started production at the beginning of last year but it was a bit of a soft production because as soon as we started, COVID-19 hit. COVID-19 was a very significant brake on the industry globally 2020, and that affected us because we couldn’t have been as active as we would have hoped,” said Lincoln as he provided an overview of operations.
He added further that with the pandemic, they had to restructure the way they conducted operations and like many firms they had to operate on a skeleton staff to keep operations going. Lincoln pointed out that due to the restructuring, the amount of ore produced and processed was “significantly below in what we have hoped for.”
“In the early days of any business you make your best guesses and make your budget on predictions and hope for the best,” the president of the firm said. He added that as a newcomer to the market they were tasked with finding their footing in the global industry and navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have had challenges in supply logistics because firms were not operating regularly and we could not have imported equipment and parts as we wanted. It was difficult too on the demand side. There has been significant contraction for the products we make right across the entire industry,” he explained.
Nonetheless, Lincoln said they remain “cautiously optimistic” that there is scope for growth, sales and production along with new markets. He noted that as they seek to establish and position themselves as a supplier on the international scene, they are continuously pursuing new markets.
He stressed too that they are also monitoring opportunities to add value to the ore produced.
He also said that the company is committed to adapting to Guyana’s Local Content Policy as they have been working with several companies here. He disclosed that the company currently has 150 local employees and four expatriates.
“We have a very strong focus on local content and (are) patronizing the local supply chain and building on the relationships we have,” he posited.
The Bonasika Bauxite Project is expected to deliver an annual production of 320,000 metric tonnes of washed bauxite when producing at full capacity. Tests have shown that the bauxite ore found in the mine is the purest in the world and can be used to develop high level tertiary products for very specialized needs.
At the commissioning of the project on February 20th last year, it was announced that the lifespan of the mine is projected to be between 15 and 17 years, although the company has said other operations will further extend the company’s presence in the country to about 25 years. A total of US$387 million is expected to be injected into the local economy within the estimated 15 years of operation.
Guyana is expected to earn a total of US$49.8 million during the estimated 15 years of operations, including a 3% royalty pegged to work out to be US$6.4 million, a mining licence fee of US$1.42 Million, Employee PAYE (Pay As You Earn) taxes of US$18.95 million, as well as Withholding Tax and Company Tax of US$5.53 million and US$17.47 million, respectively.
The FBX website states that the company produces high grade, low impurity bauxite with raw ore alumina contents at 63 percent and, when sintered, over 93% alumina. This fills the niche in the alumina range between 87-88% typical bauxites and more expensive high grade aluminas, such as brown-fused alumina. Applications for First Bauxite’s alumina include water treatment, refractories, Ultra High Strength Proppants, welding applications, certain abrasive markets, and steelmaking slags.
The high grade bauxite is not a replacement for ordinary non-metallurgical bauxites and not even for other Guyanese bauxites which are lower in alumina or higher in iron. The extremely low impurities make this bauxite stand out in a class of its own, the company added.
