Mining Minister Highlights Contribution of Sector to GDP

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, has noted that the island’s mineral sector continues to contribute significantly to the island’s gross domestic product (GDP).

He was addressing the National Minerals Week church service, which was held at the Black River Independent Baptist Church in St. Elizabeth, on May 25.

“For such a small island to have a diverse array of minerals, Jamaica is truly blessed and highly favoured. So, we must give God thanks that our mineral sector continues to play a very big role,” the Minister said.

“In fact, it punches way above its weight in relation to its contribution to our national economy. Our mineral sector only employs about 0.5 per cent of our population, nonetheless, last year it contributed 1.2 per cent of our GDP,” he added.

The Minister pointed out that the sector earned some US$345 million, which was 80 per cent of the island’s export earnings.

Mr. Green underscored the importance of the minerals sector, noting that “it is an extractive sector, but almost everything that we depend on, it comes down to our mineral sector”.

He further added that St. Elizabeth continues to hold significant mineral assets.

“As we would have known, we have traditionally been a major producer of bauxite… and we have major quarries that ensure our construction industry does well,” Mr. Green said.

“Our sand in St. Elizabeth is a prized possession and some of the things like thinset that we use in tiling is largely produced from the sand that we have here in St. Elizabeth,” he added.

Mr. Green pledged that the Ministry will continue to work on the expansion of the sector.

National Minerals Week is being observed from May 25 to 30, under the theme ‘Minerals for National Development’.