Noranda Bauxite wins appreciation for its use of reclaimed bauxite lands for farming and water storage in St Ann

Noranda Bauxite, located in St Ann, Jamaica has been appreciated by Mining Minister Robert Montague for optimum use of reclaimed bauxite lands for farming and the storage of water. Noranda Bauxite, now owned by Dada Holdings mines bauxite in St Ann and ships worldwide for both metallurgical and chemical use.

Montague added that the ministry is also committed to its ‘Life after Bauxite’ programme in Jamaica. The minister stated this during Noranda Bauxite’s Agriculture Education Industry Exposition at the Port Rhodes Sports Complex in Discovery Bay, St Ann on Thursday, May 30.

“We are committed to a programme that we call in the (mining) ministry ‘Life after Bauxite’, because… we have been mining bauxite for 60 years, (and) one day the bauxite is going to come to an end, and there has to be life after bauxite,” Montague said.

The Exposition’s theme was ‘Agriculture meets Mining’. The exhibition displayed small farming technology, agriculture models and a new aqua projects taking place in Jamaica.  The event tried to demonstrate the importance of agriculture to the economy.

In his presentation, Montague hailed Noranda Bauxite’s initiative of taking the reclaimed lands and transforming them into agricultural use as a significant development. A number of mined-out pits are now being used as water reservoirs which is helping many rural St Ann communities with water storage.

“We are also using some of the mined-out pits as water reservoirs, because there are many communities that suffer from a shortage of water, and Jamaica don’t have a shortage of water. What we have is a shortage of storing and distributing water, because we have enough water... Noranda is leading on that in terms of using the lining of the pits and having them filled with water, and I want to congratulate Noranda on that,” Montague said.

Noranda Bauxite, according to his presentation has also demonstrated how individuals can have a viable business “with greenhouse technology”.

Minister without portfolio in the Agriculture Ministry, JC Hutchinson also expressed satisfaction with the fact that crops grown from the reclaimed bauxite lands are now being used for farming.