Cambior’s original proposal for a restructured Linmine envisaged a 400-strong workforce, but conditions for accessing the concessionary financing imposed by the World Bank’s lending agency, International Finance Corporation (IFC) forced the reduction in staffing. Cambior says it plans to inject US$20M in the operations, part of which may come from the IFC and the rest being raised on the international capital market.

When he announced the management takeover in June, Prime Minister Sam Hinds explained that Cambior was doing so to safeguard Linmine’s production so as to maintain its present markets prior to Cambior taking an 80 per cent stake in the state-owned enterprise.

The move for Cambior is a logical extension of the work of the joint management committee, comprising representatives from Linmine and Cambior that was set up to manage operations and improve production and productivity. Under the arrangement Cambior provided support and technical assistance on metallurgical recovery, material handling, kiln availability and efficiency and the preventative maintenance programme.

The rehired workers will be enjoying most of the same pay and conditions as they received under the former Linmine management, including being exempted from tax on their overtime pay, a condition similar to that enjoyed by workers at the state-owned Aroaima Mining Company.

Cambior believes that with this number of workers it can move the company to a cash neutral position, while it seeks financing. Cambior is not being paid a management fee, but is being reimbursed for the direct expenditures, which include the wages and salaries and other allowances of the local workers it employs as well as the salaries and allowances for the expatriate staff it assigns to Linmine from time to time.

The rehired workers are being employed in the core activities but there are other workers who are being retained to service a secretariat in order to continue some of the services that Linmine provided to the Linden community. Stabroek News understands that up to 50 persons could be employed in this secretariat which would oversee the provision of services like water and electricity to the community, the operations of the Watooka Guest House and the research and development laboratory.

Earlier this year some 500 workers opted for voluntary redundancy as the company was being prepared for the privatisation. The termination benefits paid to the workers include six weeks’ pay for each year of service up to a maximum of 104 weeks plus 10 per cent of the redundancy payment as an education grant. Both payments are tax-free.

While there is concern about the small number of workers rehired, union officials believe that Cambior will have to increase the size of the workforce as they become aware of the realities of the operations. However, persons knowledgeable about the industry have declined to comment because they have no knowledge of Cambior’s plans for the company in terms of production, the number of mines and kilns it plans to operate and other information.

A recent newsletter published by Omai Goldmines Limited (OGML), a Cambior subsidiary, said that Cambior planned to work the East Montgomery Mines, operating one kiln while it found a replacement for another. According to a feasibility study commissioned by Cambior, once financing is acquired it plans to raise production levels to 2.47M tonnes in the first year increasing to 2.82 million tonnes in the second year. This compares to production in the past few years of 250,000 tonnes.

Cambior’s original proposal for a restructured Linmine calls for the introduction of bulldozers, trucks and shovels instead of draglines and bucket wheel excavators in the stripping and mining processes.

Initially, Cambior plans to continue producing cement and chemical grade bauxite and RASC, which it describes as the ‘Cadillac’ of high alumina refractory grade bauxite.

Based on its initial proposal the US$20M financing should have already been in place but Cambior claims that the social problems associated with Linden in recent months did not help discussions with the World Bank and other financial institutions. Those problems were rooted in the failure of the water supply and electricity that sparked a blockade of the community by protesters for several days.

A lingering concern for the workers, especially those made redundant, is the pension plan, and a meeting is set for today between Hinds, the bauxite unions, representatives from the Privatisation Unit, Linmine, and the company’s thrift committee. Tomorrow’s meeting is a follow-up to meetings held on Wednesday and Thursday at which some of the issues were explored. Berbice Mining Enterprise workers who were made redundant last year, also had expressed concerns about their payment from the pension plan.

A source close to Cambior has told Stabroek News that in looking at the employment situation, the number of workers the company has rehired is in addition to those workers employed by Omai Gold Mines Limited (OMGL) which is undertaking stripping and mining operations under contract.

As for the size of the Cambior management team, the source said that it was not possible to give an exact number beyond the four or five workers who for the past three months have been involved in the processing and generation plants, the areas critical to production.

The source stressed that Cambior would be managing Linmine on behalf of its board, which he expected would be reconstituted. Cambior will not be represented on the board and its reconstitution is a matter solely for the Guyana government. Stabroek News understands that the last board meeting of Linmine directors was on June 24, and its members were not informed of the government’s intention to turn the management over to Cambior.

The source confirmed that the Guyana Defence Force now had responsibility for Linmine’s explosive magazine and that the Fire Service was being placed under the control of the Guyana Fire Service.

Prime Minister Sam Hinds told Stabroek News on Wednesday that a special purpose company, to be the public utility company for the supply of electricity, had been recently registered.