SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — The owners and operators of Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO)/ Alpart bauxite are proposing to mine nearly 700 acres of land embraced by 11 communities near here in the Essex Valley region.

The areas include Pepper, Long Hill, Friendship, Fellowship, Southampton, Northampton, Goshen, Gilnock, Mitcham, Peru Pen and just outside Santa Cruz.

General manager at Enviroplanners Limited Dr Timon Waugh explained that the land proposed for mining falls within an area spanning approximately 30,400 acres of land.

Speaking at a virtual public consultation last Thursday, deputy general manager at JISCO/Alpart Sun Jing said the company is seeking to secure about 15 million dry metric tons of bauxite in the area referred to as the Outer Valley.

He reiterated his company’s intention to modernise the refinery in Nain, which has been closed since 2019 to become “one of the most efficient and productive alumina plants in the world”.

He said the plan was to have started the modernisation of the refinery in 2020 but that was affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“We have not been idle. We have taken this period to revise our modernisation plans including working with the Government of Jamaica to identify the additional bauxite resources that will enable us to expand the capacity of our refinery production from 1.65 million tons of alumina annually to two million tons more annually,” he said.

He said it is estimated that the modernisation will be at a capital cost of US $1 billion over five years.

“One thousand jobs will be provided during the modernisation phase and after completion Alpart will provide at least 500 full time direct jobs as well as indirect opportunities for over 500 jobs in the neighbouring communities,” he said.

He said the company will need 7.5 million dry metric tonnes of bauxite annually.

Mining consultant at JISCO/Alpart Dr Frank Ross said once there is approval of the Special Mining Lease, mining would start within four years.

“… So we would expect that we would be in the communities talking to people, planning within a year after approval is given and that we would start mining within four to five years of the approval,” he said.

Hydrogeologist Basil Fernandez sought to allay concerns by residents that a number of wells including the Essex Valley Water Supply, which supplies scores of communities in southern St Elizabeth with potable water would be affected by the proposed mining.

“We have recognition of the Essex Valley Well, because it has been about 13 years in just getting the well drilled and commissioned into service. I know it is going on a bit by bit basis as they extend the pipeline depending on the funding between Alpart, (Jamaica Bauxite Institute) and the National Water Commission,” he explained.

Fernandez said he doesn’t “anticipate any problems with the well as there will be buffer zones”.

However, he said that vibrations could impact the casing of the well.

“The issue is basically vibrations that may occur, because you have the casing in the ground and if you have vibrations, especially if you are building haul roads and you are moving heavy equipment across those haul roads. You could have vibration which could impact the casing of the well which is the seal pipe that holds the site of the well open and the pump is in the middle,” he said.

“If the vibration (happens) you would cause the casing to shift, you can have a problem where the pump presses on the casing and it damages the pump and you will have to replace the well in total,” he said.

Fernandez added that “if the buffer zones are selected and the pre-scanning is done for the pipelines then there shouldn’t be any problems with the pipelines and with the wells”.

Ross said the area was already mined and a promised haul road would pass far away from the wells.

“Where the well is actually sited has already been mined. There [are] ore bodies further north and south of that location, but they are not in very close proximity to the wells,” he said.

Ross added that JISCO/Alpart will continue to address concerns of dust nuisances and implement measures to maintain existing flora and fauna.