Glencore records definite interest in bauxite industry - Team here to explore possibilities By Patrick Denny Stabroek News March 31, 2000 Glencore Ltd believes that Guyana's bauxite could be part of its operations but it would need a two-month period to thoroughly research the issue, Prime Minister Sam Hinds says. A high-level team of Glencore executives arrived here earlier this week to explore the possibilities of a joint venture, involving Glencore, the government and the management and employees of the Berbice Mining Enterprise (Bermine). They have visited Bermine operations at Everton and Kwakwani and have held discussions with a number of government officials. Hinds told Stabroek News yesterday that Glencore executives had called on him and expressed their interests. However, he said, the privatisation process now underway for Bermine and the Linden Mining Enterprise (Linmine) will proceed with the formal bids for the two companies due to be opened today at the Privatisation Unit. Of the five companies shortlisted to bid for Linmine and Bermine, three have put in bids for both Bermine and Linmine. The Prime Minister said that if there were no acceptable offers, the government would then be free to receive and enter into negotiations with any other grouping which is interested in participating, it could also repeat its invitation for bids. Hinds told Stabroek News that Glencore, which has been a customer of Guyana for bauxite is a significant player in the industry. In addition to producing some 1.5 million tonnes of alumina a year, the Prime Minister said, Glencore on its own needed some three million tonnes of bauxite annually. He said that the company's interest in Guyana's bauxite operations was welcome. Glencore was last year identified as a strategic partner by the management and employees of Bermine and they were supported by the bauxite unions. The initiative was taken following a seminar on the industry organised by the bauxite unions at which there was a perceived consensus that the desired model for privatisation would be one involving the government, the employees of the industry and a strategic partner. In its letter to the government, Glencore had stated that if the project economics are realistic and competitive, Glencore would be willing and able to invest in Bermine. It sees Bermine as having potential synergies with its other operations and possible significant value as a strategic source of raw material. Glencore is a major operator in the alumina and aluminum industries worldwide. Besides the 1.5 million-ton a year Aughinish Alumina Refinery in Ireland, it also has a 44 per cent stake in the Euralumina refinery in Sardinia, Italy which has a capacity of one million tons and owns a number of aluminum smelters in the United States including the Columbia Falls Aluminum smelter. Its parent company Glencore International AG is based in Baar, Switzerland and had sales of approximately US$34 billion in 1996. It is a privately held global natural resources company with activities in physical commodities trading and significant investments within the metals and mining sector. In 1998 Glencore International was rated Baa2 by Moody's Investors Service and triple- B for long-term corporate credit and A-2 corporate credit and commercial paper by the Standards and Poor.