Noranda Bauxite Company will continue to play its role as a firm builder of the Jamaican economy in a tangible way, even as some are critical of environmental issues alleged to be associated with it, the firm’s chief executive officer has sai d.

Revealing that last year the company spent US$85 million on operational items, Mark Hansen said that the business climate was ideal for the company to build on such a foundation, even hinting that with partnership and cooperation from all stakeholders far more positives were in store.

London-based Hansen, who is due to be in Jamaica by early next year to oversee the operations of the St Ann-based joint venture held by the Jamaica Government through the Jamaica Bauxite Mining Ltd (51 per cent) and Concord Resources Ltd (49 per cent), which he and others founded in 2015, said he remained optimistic that the operations could be a win-win for all.

“The mining industry has brought several thousands of well-paying jobs to Jamaica. Even our company alone in the last five years has been involved in constructing a community skills training centre in two different areas; donated buildings and land to communities; sponsored many school and community activities; and even when I used to chair Jamalco [Clarendon Alumina Production Ltd] there were many community and sports initiatives, education initiatives, funding for certain buildings in communities that we undertook, in addition to being a significant contributor to the local community.

“Our business alone, we spent US$85 million a year into direct community impact in Jamaica across contractors, employees, salaries and benefits, service providers, we engage with community relations… this is a significant amount of money. So the benefits of an important industry shouldn’t be overlooked,” he said of criticisms that bauxite mining has done little for communities and has even unsettled some.

One of the concerns of bauxite mining over the years has been mined out land left idle, but for Hansen, there is much hope for such areas.

“One of the initiatives we are looking at is farming,” he said. “Here, mined-out areas can be effectively reclaimed and used for agriculture purposes, green house initiatives…this is a direct request of the Government to look more at things like those and we are very open to supporting that.

“There are a number of productive uses for that land… different industries can spring up from that in St Ann. We have to do more of that. Reclamation is a very important piece of the bauxite industry and there are times when it needs to be done better and with more intention, but it is also our commitment to look at those areas and be on top of that as we can be and be open-minded about the different uses of those lands,” Hansen revealed.

— H G HELPS