Mining Effects

The Jamaica Bauxite company has been dumping vast quantities of hazardous wastes in rivers and lakes of local communities. Agricultural lands and development is deteriorating and livestock could suffer adverse effects.

The need is now arising for clean and fresh water. Inadequate supply can have social and economic consequences. The island is dependent on export due to limited resources. However, they need to introduce better mining techniques which are harmless. The country’s land mass is limited and cannot accommodate the disposal of high volume waste material.

One of the water is the Moneague lake at one time proposed for development as a recreational Park, is being polluted by Caustic soda from the Red-Mud Lake on Mount Diablo. The high P.H level of the lake proved harmful to people, who come in contact with the water. Managing water as an economic goodwill not only contributes to achieving efficient and equitable use, but also encourages conservation and protection of water resource.

As our Prime Minister the Hon. P.J. Patterson said back in 1999, and I quote, “As we celebrate inter-American Day, we affirm that water is indeed essential to life and must be given the prominence it deserves.”

So I asked, is he giving our water the prominence it derserves as you can see, it takes celebration of American Inter-American Day for him to say water is indeed essential to life. What about our water, and our life?

Jamaica’s land mass is limited, and therefore cannot accommodate the disposal of such high volume of waste material. This problem is intensified by the fact that the residue leaves the plants in association with large volume of weak, caustic-soda solution.

One of the major environmental problem is caused by the industry disposal of the tailing which forms an alkaline-mud, the original procedure that is used to dispose of the red-mud is to pump material into mind-out ORE bodies and Dyke Valley without any sealant. However, these “red mud lakes” results in the percolation of the caustic residues (sodium) into the underground aquifers in local areas again without any sealant.

A later approach was to build sealed ponds in which the interior of the ponds be lined with 12-14 inches of clay sealant which has not done. These ponds, which were 100-120 acres in areas created other problems. One of the problems was that they were constructed on highly qurable lands, good farming lands. The Pond was to be designed to hold 5-7 years of mud-storage. “Furthermore, these ponds never dried out after being filled, and consequently had to be abandoned.”

“Another one of those major sources is air pollution.” For more than four decades, officials said they tried to determine the extent of pollution threats and come up with protective solutions, on the first task, but failed. The second task was to protect us the citizens, and environment form further harm. The airborne sulphur is of great concern to us, the citizens, but to the government and their partners the Alumina Industries, it is no big thing.

There is evidence that two sources of their corrosive by-product is the cause of the damages to our health, and the environment.

One source results from the method used in extracting the aluminia from the bauxite, is called Bayer Process, during this process notorious gases, caustic aerosols and other corrosive dust is released and dispensed into the atmosphere.

The second source of these corrosive by-products is the Bunker “C” oil used in running the turbine engines, which provides electricity for the plant. Evidence proves that Bunker “C” is a crude oil and among the impurities it contains is sulphur. When burnt to power the turbines, it throws off among other by-products the acidic gases, sulphur dioxide and sulphur trioxide, on contact with moisture, these gases changes to sulpherous and sulpheric-acid, which is highly corrosive.

Human Effects
The effects of human activities is not restricted to air quality degradation. Massive dumping has caused extreme exposure to our communities, people and livestock. Researchers have determined these large consumption of toxic wastes may ultimately ending up in groundwater or surface water, where they may affect aquatic life and drinking water quality and pose a threat to aquatic wildlife.

With over 2 million people, and so much pollution, and no regulatory body, it is no wonder that the country’s safe water supply is progressively threatened. So far, no formal study has been conducted and the Jamaican authorities to identify contaminants in drinking that may adversely affect people’s health.

There is suggestive evidence after JBEO conducted extensive interviews with residents who have been affected by pollution, that breathing trace quantities of sulphuric and nitric formed in the environment from mining plants is injurious to human beings.

A recent study proved that exposure to airways in infants’ results in bronchial hyper-responsiveness. It also affects their respiratory health. Other adverse effects on humans are:

Since 2000, a new syndrome was recognized with patients suffering from heart disease. This symptom occurs with speech disorder and convulsions.

Pregnant women are warned not to consume medications that could harm their developing fetus. But what if small amounts of these toxins are present in drinking water? We may not be able to tolerate them for a short period of time, but that doesn't mean they won't hurt us - or developing fetuses or aquatic organisms – at higher concentrations or over a long period of time.”

Some citizens have visible holes on their bodies; excess dried skin, decayed tooth, fragile bones and rapid hair loss. Nothing is been done to help these victims of pollution and these are poor people who need financial and medical assistance.Water supply companies need to establish regulatory methods to test our water for contaminants and or levels of toxic.

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Environmental Effects
Every time these mining company’s dump wastes in our lakes or communities, natural vegetation and soil is been depleted.

Pollution should be prevented or reduced at the sources. Currently there is no form of recycling or regulatory programs to monitor the disposal of wastes from these mining companies in the environment. There are several locations in the rural areas, which have been the target of waste disposal in lakes resulting in an accumulation of red acidic substances.

Jamaica’s ground water accounts for 95% of agriculture, domestic, industrial and tourism. It has a wide spatial distribution and is easily polluted. A large part of the population depends on agriculture for economic growth and development. The general mining code of 1967 mentioned that mining concessions should avoid air and water pollution resulting from works of operations.

A series of strikes protesting the effects of pollution on the environment was carried out in 1998 and heads of government came together in an effort to resolve the problem. A statement was issued by Greg Christien, of Kaiser Aluminum as follows: “As long as mining industries operate in close proximately to communities, environmental issues will always pose a problem”. During that meeting, the Jamaican government along with partners of the aluminum industries and the National Workers union came to a so-called amicable solution. They eventually signed an agreement called Memorandum of Understanding.

This memorandum of Understanding, was signed back in 1998. by the government along with their partners, The Aluminia Industry, and The N.W.U. union. This agreement which expressed that the future survival of the industry, requires cooperation between the owners employed and the authoriters. “At that same meeting, our Greg Christien of Kaiser Alumina, then say, and I quote the reality however, is that so long as the industry operates in close proximity to commutities, health and environmental issue will always pose a big problem to the residents and the environment.

However, this did not have any impact or reflected any changes in the government’s policies. They failed to fulfill their promises and so far, the environment is gradually deteriorating.

The disposal of pollutants in the environment should be the last resort and any form of disposal must be conducted in an environmentally safe manner.

We need to lobby in order to enforce environmental legislation to avoid dumping in restricted areas and avoid pollution. Drastic measures must be taken to reduce wastes and initiate programs to clean these areas to make living risk-free.

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