Guyana eyes bright bauxite future after years of struggle, says President Ali

Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana, has proudly commented during a Sunday statement on the substantial improvement of bauxite production in the country during his tenure. In his statement, he mentioned the distressful time before his tenure wherein both bauxite and forestry suffered immaculately owing to the APNU+AFC administration's poor management.

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Guyana has bauxite reserves exceeding 350 million tonnes, which are among the richest deposits in the world. However, after the government nationalised the industry in the 1970s, bauxite production experienced a sharp decline. By the mid-1980s, annual output stagnated at 1.5 million tonnes, which was only half of previous levels. Inefficient management, falling global bauxite prices, and labour strikes adversely affected the state-owned Guyana Mining Enterprise Limited (Guymine), resulting in substantial financial losses. These losses depleted capital reserves and led to the deterioration of plants and equipment. Guyana's only alumina plant in Linden stopped operations in 1982, which halted the extraction of 300,000 tonnes of alumina each year. As a result, Guyana was limited to exporting raw bauxite ore and missed out on potential revenues from mineral refinement.

While reminiscing about the past, Ali shared on Sunday, "Between 2014 and 2020, total production contracted by 40 per cent. Yes, my friends, production went down by 40 per cent. More than 50 per cent of the persons who were employed where? In Region 10, primarily from Linden, more than 50 per cent of those employed lost their jobs between 2015 and 2020."

He also mentioned that the bauxite industry has been on the decline for several years, with the biggest set of job losses taking place till 2020. The President of Guyana feels that investments by Bosai will see production increase by over 250,000 tons this year and by 400,000 tonnes next year.