DEPENDING on who we listen to, Jamaica’s commercially mineable bauxite reserves will last anywhere between 15 and 50 years.

What seems certain is that regardless of whether or not Jamaica ever recovers from the slump in the bauxite/alumina sector, caused by high energy costs and a global economic recession, the end days of bauxite as a major economic resource appear to be within sight.

It’s against that background that we are hearing increasing talk from our political leaders about the need to “maximise” earnings from limestone mining.

The state-run Jamaica Information Service (JIS) told us recently that minister of mining, energy and ICT Phillip Paulwell “has his eyes sharply focused on ‘unleashing the potential of Jamaica’s limestone’”.

Mr Paulwell is quoted as saying “Jamaica’s limestone resources are by far the largest mineral resources possessed by the country, and the mineral is fast becoming the most commonly used substance with the most diverse end use structure of any industrial material”.

The JIS tells us: “Jamaica’s most abundant mineral is limestone, with a volume of approximately 50 to 60 billion tonnes. Limestone deposits in Jamaica account for 65 per cent of the island by weight, and 85 per cent of its surface coverage. A high proportion of Jamaica’s limestone is considered ‘high purity grade’.”

Limestone is a vital component in construction, pharmaceuticals, plastics, steel metallurgy, and in the refining of materials such as bauxite to alumina.

Dr Christopher Tufton, the Opposition spokesman on investment, has also spoken out about limestone, pointing to the need for a “proper plan” which will allow the country to benefit fully from the “value added” aspect of limestone exploitation.

Clearly both of our political parties visualise a rate of annual limestone production that will be way in excess of the 1.956 million tonnes which Jamaica’s Economic and Social Survey for 2010 said was produced that year — an increase of 2.2 per cent over 2009.

To be fair to Dr Tufton, he also recognised the need for a “proper plan” in the context of the natural environment and Jamaica’s life-giving tourism industry. For as he pointed out, “The issue is always the balance that you seek in trying to ensure that you benefit from our natural environment while preserving that natural environment. …Tourism will always be in conflict with mining. That’s just how it is… you want to preserve what you have at the same time exploit what you can”.

Finding that precise “balance” is very crucial. From a purely economic point of view any airline passenger who has bothered to look while entering or exiting our two international airports will readily see the chalky eyesores caused by the mining of limestone, marl and aggregate. It’s not hard to imagine the damage to the tourism sector should such activity expand unbridled.

In looking to exploit limestone, the society must not make the same mistakes so obvious in bauxite. It’s not for nothing that there is so much conflict of feeling towards bauxite in mining areas across the country. Even as residents gained economically in the short and medium term from mining activities, all too often farming as a sustainable activity withered and died. Indisputably also, there are other ongoing negative environmental consequences triggering questions as to whether it was all worth it.

As our increasingly desperate political leaders look to the exploitation of limestone and other minerals in the bid to resolve the country’s dire economic problems, environmentalists, media and all civil society must keep a sharp and proactively critical eye. We must be very wary, lest as a society we end up spitting at the sky or cutting off our nose to spite our face.