A most recent article in the prestigious Bloomberg business magazine on Jamaica’s bauxite industry describes the Noranda bauxite facility on the north coast as being at “the leading edge of a revival of the mining industry, turning Jamaica’s red earth to gold for a new set of investors…”

The facility was originally owned by Kaiser Bauxite — one of the pioneer Jamaica industry companies that actually commenced operations on the south coast in 1953 before transferring to St Ann in 1967. Kaiser left Jamaica in 2003, but the history of their partnership with the country remains a remarkable case study of a company/country relationship that went far beyond the boundaries of corporate social responsibility.

A book I penned as a documentary contribution to Jamaica’s bauxite records, In Partnership with Jamaica, relates the sequences of events, activities, challenges, triumphs, humour and pathos that characterised Kaiser’s extraordinary journey from 1953 to 2003. It was a period when Kaiser played an important role in the economic and social development of Jamaica and integrated itself completely into all areas of Jamaican life. The initial steps taken in as far back as 1947 to start a new venture in a foreign land grew into a deep and mutual attachment. The old-time Kaiser ‘patriarchs’ who worked in Jamaica like Don Tretzel; Jake Lindemuth; Ed Coyne; and Edgar Kaiser, the founder himself, always said that it was the positive support and welcome given by Jamaicans to the new enterprise, the human resource qualities available to the industry, and the constructive framework provided by successive governments that encouraged those early investors to put their faith and money into Jamaica.

Speaking with Dr Carlton Davis the other day at a function we listed some of the outstanding general managers across the industry who had pioneered its growth, and we concluded that the most outstanding ones were those who had placed their trust in the Jamaicans they worked with and who they said had inspired their confidence in the future of the industry.

The emphasis that Kaiser placed on people development is reflected in the book, which highlights the outstanding roles played by Jamaicans and expatriates who contributed skills, commitment and personalities to make those early partnerships work.

Jamaica’s bauxite industry can actually be dated back to 1938, as Carlton Davis reminds us that the occurrence of bauxite in ‘red soils’ of Jamaica was first officially established and confirmed from tests done by a R F Innes, agricultural chemist in the Department (not Ministry) of Agriculture. Between those passing years the industry has been written off more than once, and has had to go through periods of love-hate relationships influenced often by misunderstandings and an unwillingness to acknowledge the value of and contribution the industry has made to Jamaica’s development.

Be that as it may, bauxite has indeed grown up with Jamaica, and the companies have integrated themselves into the fabric of the Jamaican history and social and economic development to boast, as some do, true partnership.

The section of the book which deals with the opening of Kaiser’s operations on the north coast (Discovery Bay) in 1967 is telling. First of all we read that the ceremonies took place with “much glitter, attended by dignitaries headed by Governor General Sir Clifford Campbell, Acting Prime Minister Donald Sangster, and chairman of Kaiser Aluminum Edgar Kaiser”. Dedicated to shipping bauxite, the company hit the ground running with social programmes designed to demonstrate the value placed on social responsibility. For example, with an eye on its scenic location, the company made every effort to see that its host community retained its beauty and its historic attractions.

An open-air museum of Jamaica artifacts was built on the site of Columbus’s first landfall in Jamaica and named Columbus Park. For many years the park was maintained as a number one beauty and historical attraction by the company, until it changed hands along with the coming of the national partnership in 1977.

The historic Quadrant Wharf at Old Folly was restored, and the renowned Puerto Seco Beach was brought up to world-class standards.

On April 2, 1967 the Kaiser Clinic was opened at Jack’s Lodge (Discovery Bay) providing services to the employees and the public, and becoming the first bauxite industry clinic to make its services available to the community on the same scale as to its employees.

This was followed by the building of a private ward at St Ann’s Bay Hospital, spearheaded by a committee led by the general manager himself, Don Tretzel.

The community outreach kept pace with the mining and shipping of bauxite. “I think it was towards the latter part of the 1960s,” recalled Jake Lindemuth, who had overall responsibility for the Jamaican operations, “when Bob Lightbourne (then minister of trade and industry) took me aside and said, “Jake, I wish Kaiser would try to develop some kind of an industry in Jamaica separate and apart from aluminum.”

Kaiser took up the challenge and formed the Kaiser Development Corporation, which encouraged the start-up of several businesses, but eventually settled on JAFLEX (Jamaica Floral Exports Limited). The JAFLEX horticultural farm in St Mary successfully grew and exported anthuriums to all parts of the world and was eventually sold, but still remains in the business. “It was particularly good for Jamaica on three points,” reflected Lindemuth. “It was labour-intensive, it brought in foreign exchange, it was native to Jamaica — it was all Jamaican.”

During the period of the 1970s, Kaiser kept up the pace. Out of a small community relations programmer in 1975 came the National Push Cart Derby, created by Kaiser Bauxite as an opportunity for youngsters who normally push handcarts for a living to be recognised each August at Derby Day, with Governor General Sir Florizel Glasspole presiding for 12 years as chief patron. The push cart idea spread all over Jamaica with thousands attending each Derby Day at the company sports club in Discovery Bay. It led to the idea for a Jamaica bobsled team, and later to the Cool Runnings box-office hit movie partly filmed at Kaiser in 1993.

Then there was the Discover the Source tourism promotion programme designed to shore up Jamaica’s tourism industry, which had been ailing at the time of the mid-1970s. Kaiser’s programme invited Kaiser employees abroad to vacation in Jamaica and visit the source of aluminium, while enjoying excellent packages worked out by Kaiser Bauxite and the hotel industry.

Also among Kaiser’s outreach was the “Jamaica First” bumper sticker programme, which took the country by storm in 1981, as a channel for national unity after a particularly divisive election campaign in 1980. Kaiser printed thousands of stickers promoting the message of pride and love for Jamaica and calling for a rededication to the national motto, “Out of many, one people.” Jamaica First became a national slogan appearing on cars, bicycles, office doors, store counters, schoolbooks, tourism shops, overseas locations, even baby prams.

Carlton Davis, as head of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute, enjoyed a close relationship with Kaiser. He said that the company set high standards in corporate behaviour for its successors to follow. Suffice it to say, St Ann Bauxite Partners and later Noranda Bauxite have followed on and built on those programmes. Noranda’s breakthrough in greenhouse technology for farmers working on reclaimed bauxite lands is an example. So too its extensive scholarship programme extending to over 170 recipients each year.

Back in 1979 it was another strike of gold that was minted by Kaiser in Jamaica when their employee singers, conducted by musicologist Karl Fuller, not only won a Festival gold medal, but went on the produce a popular long-playing music album, The Kaiser Singers Strike Gold. The choir went on to do a triumphant tour of Oakland, California, culminating at the official dinner of the Kaiser Aluminum and the City of Oakland Official Protocol Committee in October that year. The Kaiser Singers mined bauxite, and produced gold.

The Bloomberg story on Jamaica’s mining revival turning red earth to gold for hedge funds is only a part of its gold-mining history.

Lance Neita is a public relations consultant and writer. Send comments to the Observer or lanceneita@hotmail.com.