Page 4 - The Maroons
P. 4
There can be no mining in Cockpit
Country!
Richard
Crawford
Tuesday, August 13, 2019 11 Comments
A view of the surrounding terrain from the Merrywood Primary School on the western fringe
of the Cockpit Country.
The Government of Jamaica is the 51 per cent majority shareholder in Noranda Bauxite Company,
while the 49 per cent minor shareholders are the private owners. I am extremely grateful to the
Maroon community warriors who drew my attention back to this fact as I was about to make another
plea to the prime minister and all the Members of Parliament to ensure that no mining takes place in
the Cockpit Country.
The task has become easier, however, because the Government would be courting political and
economic disaster if it thought that it could get away with permitting more bauxite mining in this part of
Jamaica through some cloudy arrangements and agreements within the Noranda Bauxite Company,
which it owns and the confusion of stakeholder boundaries in the wider industry.
It is all being exposed now and accounts for the behaviour of the private owners who feel they will be
successful in this battle which will destroy Jamaica's priceless ecosystem and remove residents from
their homes, farming, and other businesses for some more bauxite.
