Govt looking to stimulate opportunities for Guyanese in natural resources sector – Minister

…as team visits Bonasika bauxite mines

Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat said Government has placed very high on its agenda, the need to create opportunities for Guyanese, especially in the area of natural resources.

He made these remarks during a tour on Friday of the US-operated First Bauxite (FBX) at the Bonasika Bauxite Project – which manages the local subsidiary, the Guyana Industrial Mineral Incorporated (GINMIN).
Along with several high-ranking officials from the Ministry, including Permanent Secretary Joslyn McKenzie and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Minister shared that local content will play a key role in bringing opportunities to Guyanese.

From a tour of the facility and the daily operations, it was disclosed that some 100 of the 102 employees are of Guyanese nationality – a good sign of keeping with Government’s plans.
“The company seems very organised. A number of issues would have been raised in terms of local content. The company is on par with the Government’s plans. Out of the 102 employees, two are foreigners and 100 are local,” Bharrat highlighted.
He added that they have also made contributions as part of their corporate social responsibility, that will benefit the neighbouring communities. The company has established a school and offers electricity to a neighbouring village.
“What we mentioned to the company is that the Government’s objective is to look at value-added and to create more opportunities for Guyanese and local businesses too. The company has constructed a new primary school for the neighbouring village so that those students can benefit from that facility. They’re also producing electricity for the neighbouring community, Sand Hills. It’s a very small village and also they are purchasing local vegetables from those villages, which is something that we encourage and support,” the Minister acknowledged.
First Bauxite would have launched its operations locally back in February, and is ranked as the third large-scale mining company in Guyana.
Some US$100 million has been invested by the company as it is estimated to inject over US$387 million into the local economy within the next 15 years. It had outlined that within this period, some 13 million tonnes of bauxite would be mined.
Presently, it has a capacity to wash 300,000 metric tonnes of bauxite annually. GINMIN has licences for mining operations at Bonasika One, Two, Five, Six and Seven with an area of over 18,000 acres.
Amid these developments, the plan to hire Guyanese is linked to a sturdy Local Content Policy. Last week, the Advisory Panel on Local Content that was convened by President Dr Irfaan Ali submitted its first report to Minister Bharrat.
It is understood that the report contains recommendations on how Guyana can go about building a strong local content framework, not only for the oil and gas sector, but also for other non-oil sectors.
Previously, the Natural Resources Minister had held a meeting with the panel, during which the importance of providing opportunities in the oil and gas sector for goods and services produced locally, as well as for skilled and semi-skilled labour, was emphasised.
And as part of their work towards compiling the report, the panel had held a number of engagements with stakeholders, including the Private Sector and Government agencies like the Department of Energy. (G12)