Noranda Bauxite’s workers want the good

that the company is doing for the communities it interacts with to be more highlighted,

to change the perception that the company will destroy the Cockpit Country by

mining in the area.

During their protest at Jamaica Environment

Trust (JET) offices on Constant Spring Road, in St. Andrew on Monday, the

workers, who were joined by a few community members, complained that the

stories being told about Noranda have been lies and propaganda.

Water catchment and greenhouses are among

the philanthropic work that Noranda has done according to the workers and

community members.

Alfred Henry, a mining superintendent at

Noranda, speaking on behalf of the workers, said, “we are serious about the

environment and we have done several things that impact the environment.”

According to Henry, Noranda has spent over

$10 billion in the last five years to reclaim lands that were left barren by

another bauxite entity.

He said that entity left holes that Noranda

had to fix, which resulted in the land being able to use by farmers for animal

rearing and growing crops.

“We have built over 67 greenhouses in just

the mining communities alone. We are into schools that are impacting on

agriculture. We are currently building a catchment pond right now that can hold

13 million gallons of water and that will benefit the community,” Henry declared.

“We have set up a cold room facility for farmers and to tie them into the grid of the marketing systems of the hotels down on the north coast. So, Noranda has impacted many lives,” the mining superintendent added.

Winifred, a teacher from the community of

Happy News, said, “When I look at Noranda in my community, we have several

greenhouses provided by them.”

“They help school children, parents who cannot afford to send their children to school can go to Noranda and will get help,” Winifred argued.

One Reggae entertainer, Queen Ifrica, came to the defense of JET and called for her own support to counterprotest on Tuesday, September 17.

View this post on Instagram Alert!!!!!!!!!! Narondo Mining staged a protest Today in-front of JET office Claiming Fake Information it is not fake that the after effects Of mining is killing off Jamaicans killing our plants birds polluting our waters we could on and on and on so please this not about making trouble it’s about all of us coming together Government Apposition private Sector all of Us to save our Country From dying Heroes Circle In The Morning From 8:30am We Will Be There To Support for our Young Peoples Sake Jamaica is ours , and you can see here Narondo is making there voices heard so We Should Too ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????A post shared by Queen Ifrica (@queenifrica) on Sep 16, 2019 at 3:19pm PDT