Mr. Hinds made this assertion in answer to a question posed by a resident of Kwakwani last Thursday during a meeting to discuss the future of the industry in the mining community, a statement from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.

In giving this response, Mr. Hinds referred to a conversation he had had with a resident of Kwakwani. This person, he said, was of an opposing political affiliation, but had advised that Government has got to do what is the best thing for the country and the community as whole.

“Aroaima Bauxite Company (ABC) has been of help to BERMINE, and not only in shipping. If the ABC was closed, the shipping would have been closed down already,” he added.

The Prime Minister said that in his judgement, the granting of exclusivity to Viceroy is not responsible for BERMINE’s problems as, “this is not a dog-in-the-manger situation; that there is capacity available that isn’t being made available to BERMINE”.

Answering another question about the accessing of a forest concession for the Region Ten Forest Producers and the building of a road to the said concession, the Prime Minister said this was dependent on the sale of Guyana’s bauxite shares in ALCOA. Guyana had 50 per cent shares and “at that time we hoped that 50 per cent would bring ten to 15 million dollars and that money would have been used in this area (for road construction).”

The road was one of the items contemplated from a sale of shares in ABC.

Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Chairman Mr. Robeson Benn said that the market for bauxite is “soft” and will remain so until the end of the third quarter of 2004.

Benn said he was surprised to hear Kwakwani residents saying that they prefer the operations there to be closed. Shipping out of the Berbice River, he said, has to be managed carefully “for the safety of the shipping, the people and the safety of the facilities there”.

The GGMC Chairman also reiterated the Prime Minister’s call to address the situation of ‘half a loaf is better than no better bread’.

“These are serious issues and it’s not enough for some of us in here to say that everything must close down,” Benn told the gathering at the BERMINE Workers Club, Kwakwani. (GINA)