Cockpit row boils

[jonsdigs]

Cockpit row boils
Environmentalists eye court action after Gov't grants prospecting licence to bauxite firms
BY KARYL WALKER Jamaican Observer staff reporter
Friday, December 15, 2006

Environmentalists, angered by the Government's granting of an exclusive licence to Alcoa and Clarendon Alumina Production to search for bauxite deposits in the Cockpit Country, yesterday said they were prepared to take their objection to court, and as far as the United Kingdom-based Privy Council if necessary.

At the same time, the environmentalists have called on Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to intervene in the growing dispute and have vowed to engage in civil disobedience to protest the decision.

"The prime minister needs to get involved. We are outraged," head of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), Diana McCaulay, said at a press conference at the JET headquarters on Waterloo Road in St Andrew yesterday. "Have we gone out of our minds that we would go and destroy this repository of biodiversity?"

The environmentalists had earlier stormed out of a National Minerals Policy consultancy meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston after permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Donovan Stanberry, announced that the prospecting licence had been granted.

The irate group, among them members of the Cockpit Country Stakeholders Group, and the Farquharson Institute, are threatening to rally the support of the 73,000 residents of the Cockpit Country to join them in civil disobedience to protest against any attempt to disturb the delicate ecological balance in the area.

"We are prepared to go to any lengths to prevent any form of disturbance of the Cockpit Country," said McCauley. "We are going to enlist the help of international environmental organisations to assist us in this campaign."

"We are enlisting the services of international environmental lawyers to see what legal channels we can pursue, and if all else fails, we are prepared to take the matter to the Privy Council,"
McCauley added.

The environmentalists have been arguing that prospecting for ore in the region would contaminate the underground water supply to 12 of the island's major rivers and spell disaster for the tourism industry from Trelawny to Black River in St Elizabeth.
But Agriculture and Lands Minister Roger Clarke yesterday rebutted those claims. Clarke told the Observer that the prospecting licence had been given the blessings of the relevant government agencies and was not a gateway to wholesale mining.

"It is based upon the advice of the National Environment and Planning Agency and the Underground Water Authority. They had no objections," Clarke said. "It will not affect the water or damage the environment. If you follow the environmentalists, you would never mine anything."

Last week, head of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute, Parris Lyew-Ayee, had said that the Government had no plans to allow mining in the Cockpit Country for at least another 20 years.
But environmentalists say they have long been wary of the Government's position on mining.

"If there are no plans for mining, then what are they prospecting for?" asked scientist and anti-mining activist Mike Schwartz, who has lived in the Cockpit Country for over a decade.
The Cockpit Country spans over 5,000 acres and runs through the parishes of St James, Trelawny and St Elizabeth. There are hundreds of endemic flora, fauna, birds, reptiles and animals that can only be found in the area, which has been labelled the world's last natural ecological treasure.

Environmentalists claim that the Government's decision not to declare the area a no-mining zone has stalled plans to propose to the United nations that the Cockpit Country be designated a world
heritage site.

Article

[jonsdigs]

The bauxite/Cockpit Country dilemma
published: Sunday | December 31, 2006
Jamaica Gleaner News
Anthony R. D. Porter, Contributor

As most readers should know by now, the object of any mineral exploration programme - be it for bauxite, gypsum, or some other substance - is to ascertain its quality (or grade) and its economically extractable and treatable tonnage.

By the early 1950s, when British Aluminium Company Limited (BACL) commenced prospecting operations in Jamaica, many of the large bauxite-bearing properties in western St. Ann and eastern Trelawny (extending from Claremont through to Clark's Town) had already been acquired by Kaiser and Reynolds. Some estates, such as Stonehenge, were also under option to Kaiser, but others such as Windsor, Fontabelle, and Pantrepant were privately owned.

With little room to manoeuvre, BACL set about obtaining the rights to explore the Windsor property which it did in three stages: 1) taking surface samples, 2) scout drilling (i.e. reconnaissance drill holes), and 3) systematic grid drilling (at 100 ft centers) on at least four of the most northerly deposits or glades (unforested open spaces). The tonnage and grade (i.e. the total alumina and silica content) of these deposits were ascertained.

The rugged karst limestone extending some 10 or so miles to the south (i.e. the Cockpit Country) was reported to consist of "small crater-like glades with insignificant accumulations of fair grade terra rossa, too small and too remote to be considered a mining proposition" (G.A. Daniel, February 1955, BACL report).

Several years later, the Aluminium Company of America (Alcoa) entered the picture and joined the other major players (Kaiser, Reynolds and Alcan) in their quest to find economic reserves of bauxite in Jamaica. By the beginning of the 1970s, Alcoa had obtained licences to explore in several parishes, including the bauxite-bearing region over the southern half of Trelawny parish. (See the Government of Jamaica's Department of Mines Annual Reports for that period, and various JIS "Facts on Jamaica" brochures.) So, up to that time, there were at least three exploration campaigns for bauxite in Trelawny.

Bauxite prospecting

The fourth bauxite prospecting programme in Trelawny that I am aware of commenced in 1989, when the Government of Jamaica and Alcan Aluminium Ltd., entered into an agreement to conduct a "Feasibility study on the establishment of an alumina refinery on Jamaica's North Coast" (Daily Gleaner, Thursday December 14, 1989, Page 3).

Many exploration holes were drilled manually (so as to avoid damage to any crops and property) by crews employed by the Jamaica Bauxite Institute, and numerous samples analysed by Alcan. Using manual methods, holes can be drilled to a depth of about 45 ft, but beyond that, it becomes more difficult and time consuming to lift out the rods. There are, however, portable machines that can now do the same thing and, unless someone gets careless, this type of works poses no more threat to the environment than those farming the land.

Although the project never got off the ground, much new information was generated on the quality and quantity of bauxite in the parish of Trelawny. This information is now more than 10 years old and its period of confidentiality has, I believe, expired. If so, and Jamalco has had a chance to review this and the earlier data, then the results must have been sufficiently encouraging to warrant further work.

Workable compromise

Two of the questions that always come up are: 1) Why does Jamalco have an interest in exploring for bauxite in Trelawny when its existing alumina refinery at Halse Hall in Clarendon is located so far away? And, 2) Is there a plan to pick-up where Alcan left off and construct a refinery on the north side?

In 2004, the Government of Jamaica and Alcoa announced that the alumina plant at Halse Hall was to undergo a major expansion in effect doubling its refining capacity. Such a venture requires a doubling of reserves and this may well be the answer to question 1. But, "I don't know" is the most honest answer that I can give (at this time) to question 2.

Here is a possible solution to the deadlock.

Having worked in the bauxite industry for many years, I have a vested interest in not seeing it go under. It would be an economic blow of seismic proportions. On the other hand, the Cockpit Country Stakeholders' Group (CCSG) and other support groups have a vested interest in ensuring that the environmental integrity of the Cockpit Country (CC) is maintained.

One of the major issues, therefore, that needs to be resolved is what exactly constitutes the limits of the CC.

From a geological standpoint, I would argue that the CCSG limits extend too far south and, to ensure the continued viability of the bauxite industry, their line should be shifted westwards to at least the 350,000 Easting Jamaica False Coordinate (which roughly corresponds to a NS line from Clarks Town through Barbecue Bottom to near Albert Town). This to my mind is a workable compromise.

The rugged, deeply-eroded karst landscape west of this line is composed of dolomitic limestone and dolomite (called the Troy Formation) and this member of the White Limestone Group, in my experience, plays host mainly to low-grade bauxite, aluminous - laterite and clay.

Anthony Porter is a former chief geologist at Alcan Jamaica Company.

Article

[L Roebuck]

LETTER OF THE DAY: Biologists speak on Cockpit mining

" The island's second-largest underground cave complex, the Windsor Caves, is found in the Cockpit Country. This cave system shelters and supports some of the largest bat colonies in the entire island.

At least three endemic bat species, one of which is at-risk, are found there. Other non-cave dwelling bats in the area include the fig-eating bat and the hairy-tailed bat. Many of the bats are responsible for pollinating fruit trees in surrounding areas. It is also one of the last refuges of Jamaica's giant swallowtail butterfly, the largest butterfly in the Western Hemisphere, which is now very rare in the Blue and John Crow Mountains. "

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