US$20M joint venture signed between Guyanese, foreign companies

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Tuesday between Excalibar Minerals LLC and Ithaca Energy Partners Inc which will see the establishment of a barium manufacturing facility in Guyana.

Ithaca Energy Partners Inc is an indigenous Guyanese Company and is a member of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry while Excalibar Minerals is a company out of Houston, Texas.

The signing, which took place at the side lines of the International Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) currently being hosted in Houston, Texas will see Excalibur Minerals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Newpark Resources, coming to Guyana.

The News Room understands that the two firms will also establish a joint venture which will see over US$20 million being invested into the barium manufacturing facility.

It is also expected that the local facility will supply Guyana’s oil and gas industry with Barite.

Ithaca Energy Partners Inc. (IEP) is an umbrella supply chain execution platform for Guyana’s oil and gas industry and also a Guyanese company with international experience that provides upstream and midstream support services to the industry.

They offer door to door logistics and Exworks with material management and supply base services.

Linden Edmondson, Chief Executive Officer of IEP, noted that the joint venture would create employment, transfer barium manufacturing technology to Guyana and provide training for several Guyanese.

Since its founding in 1990, Excalibar Minerals has sourced and processed high-quality barium sulfate and calcium carbonate ores to deliver the very best products possible.

Barium occurs only in combination with other elements in the manufacturing process of glass, metals and products similar to glass.