The multinational metals corporation, Alcoa has signed a contract for Aroaima to provide 1.5M tonnes of bauxite a year for the next three years.

This will be good news for Aroaima Mining Company, a year after it was tasked with managing the merged operations of its company and that of the Berbice Mining Enterprise (Bermine). General Manager, Morris Stuart says that the company is still managing to run a cash neutral operation despite various challenges.

Stuart said that the details of the price at which the bauxite was to be supplied were very complex but that in simple terms it was hitched to the quality of the bauxite with a proviso that the price would be increased if the price of alumina appreciated.

The 2002 merger was forced on the government to keep the industry in the Berbice River going, after Alcoa pulled out of its joint venture agreement with the government of Guyana in Aroaima.

Speaking with the Stabroek News yesterday, Stuart said the cost of fuel remained the major challenge. However, he said that even though the company had begun preparing to mine at Kwakwani, there were some savings to offset the cost of having to transport the ore longer distances for processing.

He explained that some savings would be achieved because there was less overburden to strip at Kwakwani than at Aroaima.

At Kwakwani, the company has started stripping operations to expose the ore at the 20 Green Creek Mine from which it expects to mine 500,000 tonnes of chemical and metal grade bauxite. Stuart said the company was establishing a three-month lead-time between the stripping and mining operations.

Access to the ore reserves was one of the conditions proposed in the Alcoa concept paper before it pulled out of its existing joint venture agreement, for participating in a restructured Aroaima Mining Company.

When Alcoa pulled out and Bermine collapsed, the government adopted the Alcoa plans for the merged operations.

Another mine is also being developed at the Block 5 mine at Kwakwani, from which 280,000 tonnes should be mined this year.

Commenting on the facilities being constructed to handle the ore brought from Kwakwani, Stuart said that the planned wharf was finally completed earlier this week and what now remained was the last link of the conveyor system.

Meanwhile, Stuart said that the company was looking for someone to replace him, as he is to leave later this year. Stuart initially was hired for a three-month period when the merger was announced.

He explained that the operations needed a younger person to manage it and a number of candidates were being looked at. (Patrick Denny)