Mackenzie, Guyana
| Linden | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Linden
|
|
| Coordinates: 6°0′0″N 58°18′0″W / 6.00000°N 58.30000°WCoordinates: 6°0′0″N 58°18′0″W / 6.00000°N 58.30000°W | |
| Country |
 Guyana
|
| Region | Upper Demerara-Berbice |
| Elevation | 157 ft (48 m) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 29,298 |
Linden is the second largest town in Guyana after Georgetown, and capital of the Upper Demerara-Berbice region, located at 6°0′0″N 58°18′0″W / 6.00000°N 58.30000°W, altitude 48 metres (160 feet). It was declared a town in 1970, and includes the communities of MacKenzie and Wismar. It lies on the Demerara River and has a population of roughly 29,298 (Bureau of Statistics, Population and Housing Census - 2002, GUYANA). It is primarily a bauxite mining town, containing many mines 60–90 metres deep, with many other pits now in disuse.
Commercial bauxite mining started in Linden a hundred years ago. In 1916 the Demerara Bauxite Company Limited, known as DEMBA, a subsidiary of the Aluminum Company of Canada Limited, was established with the objective of mining, processing and selling bauxite. The site chosen for this preliminary venture was on the Demerara River, 105 kilometres (65 mi) south of the capital city Georgetown. At that time there was no settlement in the area, except for the wards of Wismar, Guyana Wismar and Christianburg. Mackenzie, the centre of the company's operations, takes its name from an American geologist of Scottish descent, George Bain Mackenzie, who first visited and explored the area for bauxite in 1913. He returned in 1914, bought lands for mining, and built several 45-ton wooden barges for use at the riverside near Three Friends Mine, which was the first mine to be worked.
Initially, bauxite was mined with shovels and pick axes and mule carts removing overburden. The bauxite was shipped in a crude form by loading it onto barges, which were towed down the river to ships moored midstream off the Georgetown harbor.
Over the years DEMBA established not only the machinery for crushing, sorting, washing, drying, storing and loading the ore that was mined, but also housing facilities for their permanent local and foreign work force. In addition, a complex of ancillary services, including a machine shop, carpentry shop, and an electrical shop a power generation and distribution system, potable water supply and a hospital was developed. The end product of this industrial, social and physical infrastructure was a compact township named Mackenzie, which depended on sources external to the bauxite community for its supply of food and spare parts. In keeping with its policy of controlling the important sectors of the country's economy, the Government of Guyana nationalized the assets of DEMBA on 15 July 1971, and replaced it with the Guyana Bauxite Company Limited (GUYBAU). The Bauxite Industry Development Company (BIDCO) was established in 1976, in Georgetown, as the holding Company of the bauxite industry.
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