Above: PM Samuel Hinds and CEO Hilbert Shields (Photo: GINA)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Canadian firm First Bauxite Corporation is hoping to develop a vastly underexplored region of bauxite mining in Guyana’s Bonasika, an area along the Essequibo river with an initial historical resource of 1.6 million tonnes.

CEO Hilbert Shields, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Chairman of the Board of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission Joe Singh signed the agreement with the company.

The area has a life span of 44 years, and could yield bauxite production of 100,000 tonnes on an annual basis.

First Bauxite Corporation has completed a feasibility study and intends to build a mine in 18 months, part of what could be a wave of expanded bauxite production in the country.

President Bharrat Jagdeo also said the Russian Aluminum Company, RUSAL had plans to expand production in the Berbice River to five million tonnes by 2015, and 10 million by 2018.

“That will bring a world of jobs in the Berbice River, and will also have a huge impact in New Amsterdam, because of the logistic for shipping 10 million tones of bauxite versus 1.2 million tones.”