DISCOVERY Bauxite, the new name given to Noranda Bauxite/New Day Aluminium after its recent rebranding, is now embroiled in yet another court battle with local environmental interests who are seeking to stop all mining by the American company, partners with Jamaica Bauxite Mines Limited in mining ventures on the north coast.

According to court documents filed by the law firm Hylton Powell, representing the environmental interests, unless Discovery Bauxite is restrained by the court the defendants threaten to commit constitutional breaches.

The claimants have named the attorney general and the bauxite companies as defendants in the case over the proposed mining in sections of St Ann and Trelawny. They want the court to block any activity before the trial takes place.

Delroy Dell, vice-president and country manager of Discovery Bauxite Partners, indicates that the trial date is set for November 2023 and has issued a statement denying that the mining company is in breach of court decisions or of the Constitution of Jamaica. Discovery, he said, is operating under mining leases granted.

“The new application is seeking to stop all mining by Discovery, not only in SML [Special Mining Licence] 173, but in all areas that SML and its predecessors and associated entities have always been authorised to mine, without issue,” he stated.

The SML 173 mining lease, dated August 28, 2018 between the Government and New Day, establishes over 1,200 hectares of land for mining. It stipulates that mining activities will be undertaken in five-year cycles for 25 years, with the rate of dry bauxite production estimated as high as six million dry metric tonnes per annum, with the potential to earn about US$150m per year for the Jamaican economy.

“Discovery is not in breach of any order of the court, laws and regulations in seeking to carry on its lawful business. Further, Discovery has always made it clear that its operations could not be sustained beyond December 2022 if it were unable to access bauxite within the SML 173 permitted area,” Dell noted.

The trial is set for one year away. The country manager said that the new application for an injunction is being vigorously opposed.

In February 2022 Discovery Bauxite received environmental permits for mining at Industry Pen, which comprises 1,333 hectares, under Special Mining Lease 173.

The company has indicated that it received mining rights to Industry Pen in exchange for lands transferred to the Commissioner of Lands by Discovery and or its predecessor entities.

On 22 July 2022, claimants represented by attorneys in a previous case in the Supreme Court asked for an interim injunction against mining by Discovery.

However, the Supreme Court, with reasons given orally, rejected an application for an interim injunction to prevent the commencement of mining by Discovery within the permitted SML 173. The claimants did not appeal the court’s refusal to grant the interim decision.

On July 29 a different set of claimants, represented by the same lawyers, filed a new claim and applied for a similar interim injuction while asking that mining activities in total be suspended until the case is heard.

Preparatory mining activities in Industry Pen commenced some four months after the first interim injunction was rejected.

“It is unfortunate that a small handful of people continue in their misguided efforts to close a sector that provides thousands of direct and indirect jobs to the Jamaican people and contributes over $500 million each year into the Jamaican economy,” Discovery’s country manager said in his published statement.

He said that the company had observed stringently the terms and conditions of its environmental permits, including the posting of an environmental bond and the delivery of a number of environmentally friendly sustainable development projects, including the planting of over 96,000 trees within the past year under the Government’s tree-planting initiative, as well as a comprehensive assessment and relocation of sensitive floral species.

Moreover, the company said it is committed to the orderly and sustainable extraction of bauxite as is permitted by the Constitution of Jamaica and the Mining Act, and “remain of the view that the extraction and exporting of this natural resource is essential for the continuing economic and social development of our nation”.

In the latest case, Victoria Grant, a St Ann widow, is joining nine residents suing the Government, Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners II and New Day Aluminum (Jamaica) Limited for alleged breaches of their constitutional rights.

The trial is fixed for November 20 to December 15 next year in the Supreme Court.

The widow and her co-claimants say they want their right to life defended, stating that defendants are permitting and carrying out dangerous mining activities which are causing injury to their health as well as damage to their homes, farms and subsistence crops due to said mining activities carried out by Noranda (now Discovery) under special licences.

25-year lease

The expanded mining lease issued to Noranda Bauxite in 2018 gave the mining operation access to 12 times the reserves it previously had the rights to explore. The renewable 25-year lease includes lands located in St Ann and Trelawny that will allow Noranda (Discovery) to deliver on its targeted 5.2 million tonnes of bauxite per year, Laura said.

The bauxite company operates Noranda Bauxite in Jamaica, as well as Noranda Alumina based in Gramercy, Louisiana. Its Jamaican operation is owned 51 per cent by the Government, with New Day as the operating partner.

In May 2022 New Day Aluminium (Jamaica) Limited, the managing partner of Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners II, formally changed its name to Discovery Bauxite Operations Limited, completing a formal rebranding started in 2021.

Delroy Dell, the company’s vice-president and country manager, noted at the time that “in accordance with Section 17(5) of the Companies Act of Jamaica, all rights and obligations, including commitments and liabilities, of New Day Aluminum (Jamaica) Limited continue to exist and will be performed or held under the name Discovery Bauxite Operations Limited”.