Bauxite sector on track for massive 41.3% expansion this year

Total bauxite production is estimated at 196,650 tonnes in the first half of 2024, a performance driven by lower output from producers who continue to grapple with marketing and operational challenges.

Still, overall production for 2024 is now projected at just over 1,620,000 tonnes, and the sector is now projected to grow at 41.3 per cent.

This is according to the recently released Mid-Year Report from the Ministry of Finance.

Just recently, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat said the future of mining, especially at a large-scale level, is bright for Guyana, especially in Region 10 where bauxite has been making a notable turnaround, creating more employment for persons there.

“We have the major company in Linden investing significantly in their production line and they are poised to increase their production by the end of this year, creating another 200 employments for people in Region 10,” he said.

“So bauxite has always been important to us because it created employment in the Berbice area that was formerly Bermine and it created employment in the Region 10 area, Linmine (the Linden Mining Company), it was once Linmine. So the additional benefits and spin-offs that come with that sector are very critical for Region 10, other than just earning foreign currency through exportation,” Bharrat added.

Meanwhile, a substantial expansion was recorded in the mining and quarrying subsector. That sector is estimated to have grown by 45.5 per cent in the first half of the year, driven by higher declarations of sand and stone.

Sand and stone declarations are estimated to have grown by 46.6 per cent and 73.4 per cent, respectively, outweighing the contractions of 23.9 per cent and 9.2 per cent observed for diamonds and manganese, respectively.

With construction activity countrywide continuing to drive growth in sand and stone mining, the other mining and quarrying sector is now estimated to grow by 24.7 per cent this year.