Bauxite

I’m going to start with a little about how bauxite was mined and processed and then move to the history of the industry in Guyana.

To begin with I will regurgitate what I learned as a kid.

The bauxite mines had all manner of niffty names Three Friends, Montgomery, Arrowcane, Akyma, Maria Elizabeth, Ituni, Noitgetdacht and Warabaru (I wish I knew the full list).

I recollect there were three methods used to remove the overburden to get at the Bauxite ore. Dragline, Wheel Excavator and Water Blasting.

Dragline removing Overburden to get at the Bauxite ore

These Draglines were so big that they did not run on tracks. Instead they had feet and moved in a walking fashion. Special roads had to be built to accommodate the size. We were all impressed by the fact that you could drive a land rover into the bucket. It wasn’t really the size of the bucket but rather the length of it’s boom that was the measuring stick for the Draglines. Long booms meant that you could move overburden further.

Wheel Excavator removing Overburden to get at the Bauxite ore, photo Henry Hamilton

I was a boy in MacKenzie when the first Wheel excavator was built at the mines. It was the latest in mining technology and everyone was amazed.

Components of the Wheel Excavator used to move the sand onto the conveyor belts, photo Henry Hamilton

The Wheel Excavators made for great times for us kids playing in the mines. These things created great big piles of clean white sand that stood like miniature mountains in the middle of the jungle.

Wheel Excavator conveyor belts, photo Henry Hamilton

This next photo has the whole process. The Wheel Excavator is removing the easy stuff (Sand). The Dragline is taking care of the more difficult clay while a bulldozer prepares the mine for the railway extension. A small shovel is loading an ore bearing train.

It also looks like there is a drill taking test cores to establish the quality of the ore. (Correction Roger Sansom, see comments) The drill on top of the bauxite is not sampling but drilling holes for the next round of blasting. The crude ore was quite hard and needed to be loosened by blasting before the small shovel could pick it up and load on to the rail cars to be taken to the washing Plant.

Dragline and Wheel Excavator with Shovel loading Bauxite ore (photo Margo Roza on Flickr)

When the mining was done mother nature was left to take over. The mines would fill up with water creating great swimming lakes. For some reason some of the lakes had clear water rather than the tea colored water of the Demerara. This apparent cleanliness and the fact that we knew there were no Pirai made for a swimmers paradise.

Lake created by Bauxite Mine, photo Henry Hamilton

Tracked shovels were used to load the Bauxite ore onto trains for transport to the Bauxite plant.

Train moving Bauxite ore (Photo Evan Wong)

The train tracks were also used to transport people, but I never knew when and where they were going.

Bauxite Plant (photo Phillip Llyn-Jones)

At the Bauixite plant the ore was crushed, dried and then loaded onto Ocean going ships for transport to Arvida via Chaguaramous, Trinidad and Port Alfred, Canada.

Sun Dora loading Alumina at MacKenzie British Guiana

In 1961 Demba completed the construction of their Alumina plant in Mackenzie. Bauxite is chemically treated to produce Alumina (Aluminum Oxide). Alumina can then be smelted to produce Aluminum with lots of electricity and thus usually done in places where electricity is cheap.

Loading Bauxite at MacKenzie British Guiana

Bauxite Plant from the deck of the MV Sunrana circa 1968 (photo Eirik Okland)

The first leg of the journey was the Demerara river which was not deep enough to accommodate fully loaded ships.

Empty ship the Feggen proceeding up the Demerara River, British Guiana (Photo Evan Wong)

Empty ship the Sun Dial proceeding up the Demerara River, British Guiana (Photo Evan Wong)

At MacKenzie the ships were only partially loaded for the run down the shallow Demerara river to Georgetown. At Georgetown they would have to wait for high tide to clear the sand bars at the mouth of the river. It was then on to Chaguaramous, a deep water port in Trinidad where the ships were topped up with Bauxite for the transit of the Atlantic Ocean to Canada.

Bauxite Ship (Baron Belhaven) leaving MacKenzie partialy loaded with Bauxite (photo Charlie Mccurdy Flickr)

From the photos you can tell the Demerara River is at high tide and good for heavy laden boats. When the tide was low you could often see them at anchor waiting for the next high tide.

Before ships like the Baron Belhaven, the Bauxite was transported by a company called Saguenay Terminals of Montreal. I suspect Alcan chartered these ships. Many of the Bauxite ships names started with Sun as in SunVictor or SunBrayton.

Bauxite Ship (Baron Belhaven) making her way north on the Demerara river towards Georgetown (photo Charlie Mccurdy Flickr)

It looks to me that the crew is cleaning the Bauxite dust from the ship and that is why we can deduce she is moving north to Georgetown after loading in Mackenzie.

At Chaguaramous, Trinidad the Bauxite ships get topped up with Bauxite ore.

Chaguaramous, Trinidad (photo Charlie Mccurdy Flickr)

Once upon a time my family went north to Canada on the Bauxite ship Sun Victor. It was completely covered in Bauxite dust from the time it left Mackenzie until it had cleared Chauaramous, when the crew were put to work hosing her down. It was the time of year for storms in the Atlantic and I suspect the crew really didn’t need to go to all that work. There were times when the entire hull of the Sun Victor was below the waves. If I had been older I would have been scared silly (I always thought that ships weren’t meant to emulate submarines).

Bauxite Ships loading more ore at Chaguaramous, Trinidad (photo Charlie Mccurdy Flickr)

This photo appears to me to be taken from the St. Laurence River looking at the mouth of the Sageunay River. The Sageunay River flows through mountainous territory and to some resembles a fjord due to the steep sides. For me, the strangest thing about the Sageunay River is not the steep sides, but that on many of the mountain peeks, people have erected religious statues in the middle of the Canadian wilderness.

It is the presence of these mountains in conjunction with the Sageunay River that brings the Bauxite to Canada (Read on for the reason).

Bauxite Ship (Baron Belhaven) making her way north to Canada (photo Charlie Mccurdy Flickr)

Upon reaching Canada the Bauxite ships had to navigate up the St, Laurence River and then the Saguenay River to Port Alfred where they were unloaded. The Bauxite ore was then moved to Arvida where it was processed into aluminum.

The big question that leaps to mind is why move the Bauxite to Canada for conversion into aluminum. Current techniques of refining Bauxite into Aluminum require large amounts of electricity. The refining is done in places where electricity is cheap (Traditionaly this means Hydro Electricity). Several large hydro electric power dams have been constructed on the Saguenay River providing this cheap electricity to Arvida.

Ah ha but why Arvida. The acronym Arvida gives us a clue. Arthur Vining Davis. Mr. Arvida was the man behind Alcoa. Alcoa sent George Bain Mackenzie to secretly acquire mining rights to Bauxite land in British Guiana starting in 1914 at about the time the First World War began. The Brits put a halt to Alcoa’s plans as the bauxite was reserved for British exploitation. Mr Arvida and Alcoa got around these legal objections by setting up the Demerara Bauxite Company (Demba) owned by their Canadian subsidiary that eventually became Alcan. {1) Mining commenced at the Three Friends mine in 1917 with the bauxite presumably being sent to the USA for refining. It wasn’t until 1927 that the Arvida refinery came on stream. Then in 1928 Alcan with Demba sort of separated from Alcoa (primarily owned by the same people). In 1971 DEMBA was nationalized from Alcan and renamed the Guyana Bauxite Company (GUYBAU).

Since 1971 I’ve had a hard time keeping track of what entity owned and operated the Bauxite mines and plant in the Mackenzie (Linden) area.

Bauxite Ship at Port Alfred, Saguenay River, Quebec, Canada (photo Charlie Mccurdy Flickr)

I find it interesting to view the contrast of this ship in the Demerara River of Guyana and then Ice covered in Canada.

Excerpt from: Guyana Guide

1914 Demerara Bauxite Company, Limited (DEMBA), owned by Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), secured leases around the Mackenzie area where bauxite deposits were identified.
1917 DEMBA commenced mining of bauxite at Three Friends mine and later at Akyma mine (now known as Maria Elizabeth) south of Mackenzie.
1929 The Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan) took over control of DEMBA.
1930 – 40 A drilling programme was undertaken by DEMBA in the Ituni area south of Mackenzie.
1937 – 44 A small number of bauxite deposits were located by DEMBA near the Essequibo River.
1938 The first shipment of refractory A-grade super calcined bauxite (RASC) by DEMBA.

The Berbice Company Limited began exploration in the Kwakwani area.
1942 The Berbice Bauxite Company, a subsidiary of American Cyanamid, commenced production of chemical grade bauxite (CGB) at Kwakwani.
1943 DEMBA expanded its mining operations to Ituni, south of Mackenzie.
1952 The Berbice Bauxite Company was acquired by Reynolds Metals Company and began production of metallurgical grade bauxite (MAZ) at Kwakwani.
1955 – 56 Drilling was carried out by Harvey Aluminum Incorporated in the Groete Creek and Blue Mountains areas west of the Essequibo River.
1956 DEMBA commenced construction of an alumina refinery plant at Mackenzie.
1957 Barima Minerals Limited drilled selected targets in the Pomeroon area.
1970 The town of Linden, which incorporates the mining town Mackenzie and two former village districts, Wismar and Christianburg, was established.
1971 DEMBA was nationalized and renamed Guyana Bauxite Company (GUYBAU).
1975 The Berbice Bauxite Company was nationalized and renamed Berbice Mining Enterprise (BERMINE).
1976 The Berbice Industry Development Company (BIDCO) was established as the holding company for GUYBAU and BERMINE.
1980s During the early part of the decade, the Guyana Bauxite Company (GUYBAU) was succeeded by the Guyana Mining Enterprise (GUYMINE).
1982 The alumina refinery plant at Linden ceased operations.
1989 Aroaima Mining Company a subsidary of Aroaima Bauxite Company which was formed as a joint venture between the Government of Guyana and Reynolds International began operations.
1992 The debt-ridden Guyana Mining Enterprise (GUYMINE) was dissolved and divided into the Linden Mining Enterprise Limited (LINMINE) and the Berbice Mining Enterprise Limited (BERMINE).
1992 – 94 The management of LINMINE overseen by Minproc Engineers Limited of Australia as part of the restructuring arrangement with the World Bank.
1998 The Government of Guyana announced privitization plans for the state-owned bauxite companies, Berbice Mining Enterprise Limited (BERMIBE) and Linden Mining Enterprise Limited (LINMINE). The companies will each be restructured into new private companies that will be capitalized, majority-owned (sixty percent under the Government’s preferred structure), and operated by a private investor.
1999

Aroaima Mining Company (AMC) and Green Construction and Mining Company (GCMC) merged, and the stripping of overburden at Aroaima is now being done by AMC.

On August 5, the Government of Guyana hosted a privatization seminar for the five companies shortlisted to bid for 60 per cent controlling interests the Linden Mining Enterprise (LINMINE) and Berbice Mining Enterprise (BERMINE), in Georgetown.

Alcoa World Alumina, Billiton, and the consortium of Texas-Ohio Incorporated, Harbisson Walker, Possehl and Morrison Knudsen have bid for control of both BERMINE and LINMINE.

Aroaima Mining Company bid for BERMINE, and a consortium of Guyanese and overseas investors, RASC 2000, for LINMINE alone.

Alcoa was involved in a takeover of Reynolds. It is not clear how the takeover will affect Aroaima Mining Company’s bid for BERMINE or their mining operations at Aroaima.
2000 During April 2000, Head of the Privatisation Unit, Winston Brassington, reported that the bid put forward by Aroaima Bauxite Company for the Berbice Mining Enterprise is not acceptable based on the government’s bid evaluation criteria, and the privatization process for the local industry will have to go back to the bidding table. He also stated that there was one proposal for Linmine and Bermine which was rejected.