PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC – The Suriname government says it has started attracting foreign investors to develop the bauxite reserves in the west of the country into production.
The government says the initiative will be supervised by the recently formed “Committee for Development West Suriname Bakhuis Bauxite,” which will assess the ‘expressions of interest’ and ‘requests for proposal.’
Since the 1970s, several attempts have been made to mine more than 320 million tons of bauxite reserves in the Bakhuis area in Western Suriname. Still, these attempts have yet to be successful due to internal and external causes.
Suriname is seeking foreign investors to develop the bauxite sector in the west of the country (File Photo)
“Today the situation is different, and a growing world population, climate adaptation, and new energy and construction technologies mean that the demand for aluminum – and therefore its raw material bauxite – will increase in the coming decades,” the government said at the project’s launch.
In addition, the Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi government said it’s working to improve the area’s accessibility, create opportunities for vocational training and education there, and enhance maritime accessibility to make the area more appealing to foreign investors.
However, the ultimate goal is not bauxite mining but local development by creating socio-economic opportunities in the West of Suriname by adding as much value as possible to the finite raw materials. The government said it is essential that every investor continuously involves local communities and that the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country maintains its green image.
President Santokhi told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that the idea is to bring the bauxite deposits in Western Suriname and deposits in Guyana into production using gas found off the Surinamese coast in recent years.
He said the two countries would share the costs, but the proposals still need to be appropriately developed and discussed by the two neighboring countries.
Santokhi indicated that Trinidad and Tobago has already stated that it will purchase gas from Suriname, and to achieve this, a pipeline would have to be built to the Trinidad and Tobago production facilities in Point Lisas, running run through the maritime area of Guyana.
“You cannot make a deal for cooperation with Trinidad without including Guyana,” Santokhi said.
Companies from China, India, and the Middle East have informedly indicated they want to participate in a bauxite project in West Suriname.
The authorities anticipate an estimated US$10 to US$12 billion would need to be invested over ten years to get the project off the ground.
Interested companies can formally submit their expressions of interest until the end of January next year. Suriname said it intends to issue a concession for the planned project in the fourth quarter of 2024.
In 2015, more than 100 years of bauxite production in this CARICOM member state they ended after the American multinational Alcoa stopped its production activities due to rising production costs, declining bauxite reserves in eastern Suriname, and other market factors.
During the Second World War, Suriname was one of the most important suppliers of bauxite, the raw material for aluminum production. It thus provided the supply of raw materials for constructing war aircraft.
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