2007, a good year for mineral production– emphasis placed on ensuring sustainable mining practices

2007, a good year for mineral production
– emphasis placed on ensuring sustainable mining practices
A GINA Feature
Guyana Chronicle, 14 January 2008

A commitment to liberialise telecommunications sector, rapid movement
toward renewable energy initiative, increased electricity generation
and the promotion of sustainable mining were key highlights of the
Office of the Prime Minister for 2007.


Prime Minister Hinds and BOSAI's representatives tour old Linden
aluminum plant. (GINA photo)
Mining
Rehabilitation works on the road linking Matthews Ridge to Arakaka,
Port Kaituma and other communities was realised through funding by the
Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). The previous condition of
the roadway impeded inter-community travel by residents, farmers and
miners.


The year also began with a strong warning by Prime Minister Samuel
Hinds and the GGMC to miners about breaches in regulation relative to
emission of fluids with high turbidity into the waterways or other
parts of the environment.

In addition to ensuring that miners comply, international regulations
require that mining, forestry and other activities be done in a
sustainable manner, mitigating possible negative effects to human,
animal or plant life.

Government also recognised the need to provide opportunities for small
and medium scale miners and issued lots at Quartzhill, Region Eight to
several of them by way of a lottery.

In an effort to raise the standard of professionalism in the mining
industry, the GGMC offered scholarships in geology engineering at the
University of Guyana.

The GGMC also entered into an agreement with the Guyana Lands and
Surveys Commission, and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) for
multiple uses of hinterland roads. The Memorandum of Understanding was
inked to bring amicable solutions to the long standing dispute between
miners and forestry operators in relation to access.

A new company, BOSAI of China, began investing in the Linden bauxite
industry in February. The new foreign company entered into an
acquisition agreement with IAMGOLD, the former investor in the Linden
bauxite company and renamed the industry, BOSAI Minerals Group Guyana
Incorporated.

Efforts were also made during the latter part of the year to revitalise
manganese mining and processing in Region One. The Guyana Office for
Investment (GO-INVEST) ventured to the region with a team of new
investors among which was Essar Steel of India which is interested in
reopening the manganese mines

Government in collaboration with the GGMC demonstrated its commitment
to supporting communities surrounding mining districts by commissioning
two skills training centres for youths at Matthews Ridge and Port
Kaituma. Youths can access training in information technology,
carpentry, painting, joinery, electrical installation, masonry, graphic
designing, sculpting, and welding and auto body repairs.

Mineral production
Figures provided up to the end of November showed that bauxite
production was 94.7 percent of the year to date budget while stone
output was 353,485 tonnes, exceeding its year to date budget by 31
percent and sand production was 358,243 tonnes.

The Guyana Gold Board (GGB) recorded a production figure of 240,000
ounces of gold, a 16 percent increase over the 2006 production.

Telecommunications
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government in 2007 also
fulfilled its commitment to widen participation in the
telecommunications sector which saw keen competition between service
providers as a result of the advent of Digicel in February.

Digicel’s entry sparked a high level of competition, resulting in a
significant increase of cellular subscribers.

Government through the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) instituted
additional measures, among which was the enforcement of Per-Second
Billing which ensures that consumers pay only for the time spent on the
network

Government is continuing discussions with Atlantic Tele-Network, the
parent company of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T),
for the liberalisation of various categories of the monopoly it
currently enjoys.

Energy
The Office of the Prime Minister in March launched a loss reduction
campaign which targeted the replacement of 25,000 defective meters.
This was in an effort to ensure the continued extension of electricity
services.

The action followed concerns raised by the Inter-American Development
Bank (IDB) about the need to recover an estimated 30 percent of
electricity lost monthly.

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Company intensified its energy
conservation campaign during the year. This was highlighted in December
with its ‘Switch it off – Plug it out’ campaign which targets its
136,000 customers.

In keeping with a commitment by President Bharrat Jagdeo to personally
ensure that the GPL’s capacity was boosted to provide sufficient power,
especially during the Christmas season, five power generating sets,
arrived on December 18 from the US to provide 10 megawatts of power.

A number of initiatives were pursued during the year to fulfill the
plan for hydro, wind and solar power to serve as alternative sources of
energy.

In August, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, attended a PetroCaribe summit
in Venezuela where considerations were given to identifying some
territories within the Caribbean that will serve as permanent storage
and shipping locations. The possibility of constructing gas pipelines
that run through Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana was also
discussed.

Hydropower is at present a major investment under consideration for
communities in Region One, and foreign investors have committed to help
make this a reality.

Jailing Forest Enterprise from China and Essar Steel from India are two
of the major foreign companies in the mining industry which have sought
enquiries from Prime Minister Samuel Hinds about the possibilities of
developing this alternative source of electricity in the Region.