Former Vice Chair of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Anthony Vieira, has applied to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to move ahead with an approximately US$1.4M sand quarry within the Dora, Demerara River.
In the project summary published on the EPA’s website, the former radio broadcaster said the quarry would be located on the right bank of the Demerara River, approximately 70km south west of Georgetown and 37km north of Linden, through rivers. The sand quarry is accessible by the Demerara River and the Linden Soesdyke Highway, then secondary roads to the project area. Transport is possible by ships for export, barges and trucks.
The Vieira Quarry is expected to focus on ‘Site A’ which has an estimated resource of 1,500,000 metric tonnes of sand. The project will see 300,000 metric tonnes of sand being mined and produced annually over a mine life of five years.
Quarrying operations are expected to commence in 2023 once all regulatory approvals are obtained.
The document also notes that the capital investment in the project is US$1.4M but initial investment will be US$0.6 million or $130,800,000. Through the project’s capital investment and the initial life of five years, the estimated annual turnover pre- tax is US$536,068 ($116,862,824.).
