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Industry, Commerce and Technology State Minister,
Colin Campbell, announced on August 4 that
prospectors would be arriving in the island next
week to mine for gold.
Deposits have been
found in sections of Clarendon and it is expected
that mining will begin in that parish.
“We expect to see some
movement towards commercial mining when the work
begins,” he said at a ceremony held at King’s House,
where a gold brooch was handed over to Governor
General, His Excellency the Most Honourable Sir
Howard Cooke, to be presented to Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, who celebrated her 100th
birthday on August 4, 2000.
Sir Howard Cooke will
travel to the United Kingdom next week to make the
presentation.
The 18-Karat gold
brooch was made from the first 15 grams of gold to
be mined in Jamaica.
Mining and Energy
Minister, Bobby Pickersgill, said the process of
searching for gold in Jamaica began in 1986, when
the Mines and Geology Division along with the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA),
embarked on a programme of identifying areas with
potential for metallic minerals other than bauxite.
A geo-chemical survey
identified several such areas showing prospects for
gold and other minerals, especially copper. One
area was Main Ridge, close to Pennants in Clarendon.
The area was licensed
to a Canadian company which, working in conjunction
with a major Australian mining company, discovered a
small deposit of gold which was estimated at some
75,000 tonnes of ore and containing 35,000 ounces of
gold.
In 1998 advanced
planning, including site preparation and the
importation of the necessary plant, was made to mine
the ore and extract the gold. “Unfortunately, the
price of gold fell from US$310 to US$250 per ounce,
rendering the project unprofitable,” he said.
Mr. Pickersgill said
with the price of gold now up to US$285 per ounce,
the Canadian company was again making preparations
to commence mining.
August 4, 2000 |
