Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Guyana seeks bauxite market-sharing deal with China
06-14-2006

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): Unable to compete on the world market with cheap Chinese super-calcined bauxite, President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday asked China to consider sharing the market with Guyana.

Competition from China is so fierce that Omai Bauxite Mines Inc. (OBMI), a Guyana-based bauxite company largely owned by Cambior Inc. of Canada, is closing for two months starting July 1 and will temporarily lay off its more than 500 workers.

"If we can reach some agreement with the Chinese ... then we may be able to secure the future of the calcined bauxite sale abroad," Jagdeo told a meeting of the workers who are set to be laid off from July to August.

OBMI is 70-percent owned by Canada's Cambior and 30-percent by the Guyanese government.

Mine officials say it is unprofitable to sell the aluminum ore below 150 dollars per tonne due to high production costs, including high fuel prices. China is selling bauxite at 110 dollars per tonne.

Jagdeo acknowledged that chances of a deal with China were slim.

"As you would recognize, it is the private companies that buy the bauxite not the governments abroad," he said.

The government has offered the laid-off workers 123 dollars monthly, and in exchange they will attend weekly computer classes.

OBMI also plans producing and selling more of a new product, Super Chemical Grade Bauxite (SCGB), being used mainly in water treatment.