Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 11, 2019 News
Russian owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) is taking more bauxite out of Guyana in one month than what it claims to be shipping out in a year.
According to records obtained by this publication and prepared by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), the country has been exporting ‘dried’ bauxite—mined by RUSAL—at an average of 1.7 million tonnes a year, with the exception of 2012, which placed the records at over two million tons for that year.
BCGI’s bauxite is barged 240 km downstream from mines near Aroaima, using barges of 3,000 dwt tonnes each.
Investigations by this publication have found that while the average declarations by the company—as reflected by GNBS—is an average of 1.7 million tonnes annually, this amount is actually being shipped in just one month.
The company uses barges contracted from Oldendorff Carriers which transports the mined metal to ocean-going ships.
This past week, the company used up to five barges each day, each making three trips to the awaiting vessels.
This means that 3,000 tonnes at three trips each for the five barges, would deliver an amount of 45,000 tonnes of bauxite for just a single day.
According to sources inside the Berbice Bridge Company Inc (BBCI)—which is obliged to maintain tedious records of the vessels that traverse the waterways—these records reflect that this is the daily trend by BCGI.
This means that at an average of 45,000 tonnes of bauxite is being barged out of the Berbice River each day.
The monthly quota would then average 1,350,000 tonnes or 162,000,000 tonnes annually.
This situation obtains, since the country’s regulator—the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC)—is made to rely on voluntary reports by the company
A ‘Policy Brief’ that was undertaken by the Ministry of Natural Resources and completed at the end of June this year, found that a typical monitoring exercise is conducted, “at best, once a year,” at the two bauxite mines in Guyana,
The Ministry’s field-based monitoring—once a year—does not include measurements of ore volumes or sample collection and testing of raw or processed material at any point of these operations.
This means, government is unaware of the exact quantity or quality of bauxite ore being produced and shipped out of Guyana.
In fact, BCGI is only made to, voluntarily, submit monthly production statements on the tonnages of material mined, processed and shipped. Failing this attracts no penalties.
The Ministry has since determined that there was a potentially high financial benefit from undervaluation.
Guyana’s bauxite exports in 2017 were valued at US$102M but reached as high as US$150M in 2012.
As such, it was determined that if these exports were undervalued by as little as 10 per cent, the country would have lost US$10.2M in 2017 and US$15M in 2012, “which are not insignificant numbers for our small economy.”
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Apr 19, 2024
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