Above: ALCOA’s operations in Jamaica

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Jamaican mining sector could add 2,000 new jobs in the next decade, according to projections by the Ministry of Energy and Mining.

The projection is based on activities resulting from a full implementation of the country’s National Policy on Minerals Development in the next 20 years, including training in specialized skill sets, including mining engineering and mine development.

“These will become more important and in demand, largely because we are speaking, now, about complex operations emerging, which are much larger than may of those which we currently have,” said Oral Rainford, the principal director of the Ministry’s Policy Planning and Minerals Division.

The national minerals policy aims to ensure that Jamaica’s mineral wealth contributes to sustainable development, and its implementation is projected to cost just under $14 million.

Jamaica’s minerals sector includes three major segments: bauxite/alumina, industrial minerals like limestone, gypsum and gravel and the precious and base metals sector, which includes gold mining operations in Pennants, Clarendon.

While the gold mining sector is not particularly active (and saw a chemical leak over the summer), Rainford said it could be “of particular value.”

Mining was the strongest sector in the Jamaican economy last quarter, growing 7.5 percent.