New quarry looks to cash in on Govt. Projects

Jul 05, 2022 News

…to produce at US$26 per ton; sell back to govt. for US$50 per ton

Kaieteur News – The Environmental Protection Agency has essentially given its clearance for the setting up of a stone quarry at Mabura, meant to supply the Ministry of Public Works with materials to be used for sea defence and road works.

The aggregate production schedule outlining an intent to mine out the area of over 1.7 million tonnes of stone in five years

According to the Project Summary for the initiative, the primary reason for the opening of the “quarry was to satisfy the Ministry of Public Works with boulders for sea defence maintenance and aggregates for road maintenance and other construction works.”

The quarry is being operated by Windsor Technologies 19 Shamrock Gardens, Ogle East Coast Demerara (ECD), and according to the environmental regulatory body, it screened the application for the grant of an environmental permit applied for by Pramanand Rambharose- Windsor Technologies to establish Stone Quarry at the confluence of the Demerara River and Oring Creek, Potaro Mining District No.

In making its announcement, the EPA said it has determined that this project will not significantly affect the environment, and is therefore exempt from the requirement to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The reasons for its decision as outlined indicate that the proposed Stone Quarry will have minimal impacts on the environment; and that the site is suitable for this activity given that the area was allocated for mining related activities.

According to the summary submitted to the EPA, the company is seeking environmental permission in order to proceed with the initiative, the area applied for, is approximately 4,187 acres, which potentially holds some 7.4 million tonnes of quarry resources.

According to Windsor Technologies, “the proposed quarry will produce approximately 1.7 million tonnes of boulders and aggregates in five years.” The company said its production rate will fluctuate depending on demand and that it is expecting to employ about 100 persons with its Environmental management being outsourced.

The Summary stipulates, “the primary objective for this quarry plan is to develop a project that is safe, efficient and profitable extraction of the maximum usable material from the available land whilst causing the minimum usable environmental disturbance which will result in beneficial final restoration and land uses.”

Speaking to the site selection process, Windsor Technology in its summary noted that “one of the major criteria, however, was the feasibility of the project, the current demand and supply, prices for commodities, capital and operation expenditure, taxes and royalties” and such like.

With this in mind, the company said, “from the pre-feasibility, it was determined that the production cost for one ton is approximately USD$26.00/ton and the wholesale price was estimated as USD $50/ton.”

As such, “a surplus of USD$24.00/ton.” It was noted that at 150,000 tons per year for the first year, Mabura Quarry aims to generate a surplus of USD $3,600,000.

It would mean that the investors with this project are looking to secure profits in the range of almost 100% of its production costs.