‘No to Noranda!’
THE searing midday sun did little to discourage the scores of people gathered at the Madras-Caledonia crossroads in St Ann yesterday to register their disapproval with bauxite mining in their communities.
“This morning we are speaking with one voice, and that is to say ‘No!’ No to mining! No to Noranda!” one woman said.
Her comment was directed at Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partnership, which is accused of pursuing plans to mine in an area that is inside of the proposed boundaries of Cockpit Country — the largest remaining intact primary wet limestone forest in the country. The Cockpit Country Stakeholders Group contend that the area should not be mined, but Government is yet to decide on the actual boundaries.
The group of mostly farmers came prepared with umbrellas to stave off the blazing sun. With the help of placards and a public address system, they mounted their protest at the entrance to a newly dug access road across from the Madras to Gibraltar main road where a forested hill once stood.
In May when the Jamaica Observer last visited the area, heavy equipment were seen at work on the hillside and a Noranda source told us the intention was to build a road to access the ore deposits on that side of the main road.
Yesterday, we saw and trodded on the 700-foot long, stone path which gives vehicular access to two valleys.
Residents said the roadwork ceased about the second or third week of June, but they were unclear as to why. Observer checks revealed that it could be related to the expiration of the company’s Special Exclusive Prospecting Licence (SEPL) which had a life of three years, from June 2014.
Whether or not the licence will be renewed is anyone’s guess, but the residents insist that they will do everything to prevent a resumption of the work.
“If we have to sit under the tractors or lie down under them we are going to do it, because we have to stop it,” community health aide Sophia Richards said to loud cheers.
“Why are you trying to rob us of our wealth,” said 70-year-old Asburga Harwood. “We are not going to put up with it . We are going to fight it…We are not going to sit back and let you take it from us!” she added, again to loud applause.
One after the other, the residents took to the microphone and expressed their feelings about bauxite mining and its effects on their livelihood and communities. They painted a picture of exploitation, denigration, crop decimation, and gaping pits yet to be reclaimed.
Rosetta Nelson from Gibraltar said her four children who are now “out in society doing well” were able to attend the University of the West Indies and the University of Technology, Jamaica, from her earnings as a farmer.
“We need the land as farmers to work,” she said. “We were supported by our parents who were farmers. Now we are working to send our children to school and college and it’s all through farming.”
“When dem come mine out di land weh wi ah farm, weh wi a go live off? Poverty a go tek me and mi pickney dem, and mi want dem fi come outta di poverty,” farmer Opal Amos said.
Bishop of Gibraltar New Testament Holiness Church of Christ Robert Clarke also added his voice to the protests, asking what would happen to Gibraltar All-Age School and the churches in the area if mining is to proceed, especially accompanied by the usual relocation of people.
“Mining is going to damage farming, it is going to damage the church, it is going to damage the school, it is going to damage our young people,” he contended.
The protesters talked about produce such as citrus, mangoes, apples, and coffee that were characteristic of the area, but which have been lost to mining.
“We can’t tek the poverty. We want the land to perform, but we can’t see any farms because all these lands have been mined out.
“And not even as much as a coffee-root Kaiser, St Ann Bauxite or Noranda nuh plant back,” a male member of the group said, adding that he viewed some recent efforts at land reclamation with scepticism.
“Mr Noranda, nuh badda wid it,” Vincent Richards from Plantain Walk begged.
The residents later took their protest to the intersection where the road between Caledonia and Watt Town meets a Noranda haul road.
The communities represented at yesterday’s protest included Gibraltar, Caledonia, Madras, Watt Town, Barnstaple, and Discovery Bay in St Ann; and Stewart Town, Duanvale in Trelawny.
Noranda is a partnership between Noranda Bauxite Limited, which holds 49 per cent, and the Jamaican Government, which owns the remaining 51 per cent.