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Home | Jamaica’s Mining Industry Support Communities with Road Clearance and Water Relief
Mining stakeholders clearing debris from the road.
Despite some of them suffering significant damage themselves due to Hurricane Melissa, stakeholders across the mining sector have united to provide critical relief support. Their collective efforts have included the clearing of more than 300 kilometres of roads and assistance to affected communities.
Immediately after Hurricane Melissa, members of the Mining and Quarrying Association of Jamaica and the wider mining and quarrying sector acted swiftly, mobilising machinery, equipment, and manpower to restore access and provide aid.
The breakdown of their contribution includes the following:
• Lydford Mining Company: 4 days of 12–14-hour shifts clearing Hanover to Westmoreland main roads. Additionally, it cleared various areas in St. Ann, including Dunn’s River.
• Hodges Minerals and Powders Limited: 14 days of 12-hour shifts with full equipment fleet plus labour clearing roads in St. Elizabeth.
• Jamaica Pre-Mix Limited: 10 hours of emergency road clearance.
• Limecore: Heavy equipment support for regional clearing in Manchester.
Additional contributions came from JISCO ALPART, Cascade Aggregates, Crichton Quarry, Crimson Quarry, Montego Mines, Coast to Coast, and others.
Together, their support facilitated the clearing of roads, including the following:
• Montego Bay to Montpelier, St. James to Savanna-la-Mar
• Copse Road to Lethe, Hanover
• Anchovy Cross Road to Lethe Estate, St. James
• Chukka Adventure to Friendship
• Long Hill to Seven Rivers to Cambridge in St. James
• Holland Bamboo to Lacovia to Luana, St. Elizabeth
• Black River, St. Elizabeth to White House, Westmoreland
The entities also provided assistance to the West Haven Children’s Home in Hanover, which suffered major structural damage. Individual operators continue to volunteer shelter and aid to affected residents.
JISCO ALPART has played a major role in the provision of bulk water, allowing public and privately owned water trucks to collect the commodity, free of charge, at its alumina refinery. This initiative ensures residents receive water free of charge or at a significantly reduced cost.
Similarly, United Company RUSAL (UC RUSAL), on 5 December, sourced and facilitated the offloading of a shipment of relief supplies at its Port Esquivel facility in St Catherine. All fees were waived, and the supplies were handed over to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM).
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