Miners downplay Guyana emergency’

Mining companies with properties in Guyana say they aren’t concerned about the recent postponement of local elections following allegations that the ruling Peoples National Congress Party (PNC) had rigged voting lists.

Scheduled to be held Dec. 16, the election has been delayed to allow observers from the U.S. and Great Britain to monitor the voting process to ensure that it is fair. A state of emergency was declared after the postponement.

But even if President Desmond Hoyte’s PNC Party is defeated by the leftist Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), representatives of Reynolds Metals (NYSE) and Cambior (TSE) say their investment plans won’t be affected. While the PNC has been accused of election rigging before, Hoyte’s decision to sell nationalized industries back to the private sector has attracted considerable foreign investment in Guyana.

But before Cambior committed to spend $160 million to develop the Omai gold project with partner Golden Star Resources (TSE), it established a business agreement with the Guyanese government and took out political risk insurance. Scheduled to be in production by 1993, Omai is slated to produce 215,000 oz. annually over a 10-year lifespan.

The new US$60-million Aroaima bauxite mine, owned jointly by Reynolds Metals and the Guyanese government, is also protected by similar agreements, said Larry Hawkins, general manager of Reynolds’ aluminum, bauxite and chemicals divisions.

Along with Alcan Aluminum and other international concerns, Reynolds pulled out of Guyana in 1974 when the PNC decided to nationalize the Caribbean country’s key bauxite, sugar and forest products industries. But with the economy on the verge of collapse, the PNC, with help from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, has signalled that Guyana is open for business and Reynolds returned two years ago. South American Goldfields (TSE) and Denison Mines (TSE) have also been active in Guyana. Although no new date has yet been set for the election, the opposition PPP is favored to win, according to Harry Ramkhelawan, publisher of Indo Caribbean World, a Toronto-based newspaper. The PPP is led by ex-president Cheddi Jagan, an avowed communist, who Ramkhelawan says has softened his stance since he was defeated in a 1964 election.