National Minerals Policy to be sent to Parliament in August

The Ministry of Energy and Mining is working to complete the National Minerals Policy 2010 to 2030 within the first quarter of the new fiscal year for tabling in Parliament in August.

Consultations on the draft policy are now underway, which will inform the final document.

Principal Director for the Policy Planning and Development Division of the Ministry, Oral Rainford, said that the Ministry is working towards finalising the policy for submission to Cabinet in June, for it to be sent to Parliament by the end of August.

He was speaking to JIS News on (March 4) at the first of two consultations on the draft policy with public sector stakeholders at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.

This draft document is Jamaica’s first long-term national policy for the establishment of a strategic framework for the management of the country’s mineral resources.

Mr. Rainford said the Ministry has been working on the National Minerals Policy for a while. “We have…completed two versions, which were sent to Cabinet several years ago but because of different factors…they weren’t taken,” he said.

“We have, since 2007, decided to integrate the minerals policy and the Vision 2030 Mining and Quarrying Sector Plan, which we had developed as a separate document from the policy document. What you are looking at today is a very good draft of this amalgamated document,” he said.

Representatives from the Ministries of Energy and Mining; Transport and Works; Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade took part in today’s consultation.

Other participating stakeholders were: National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA); Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT); Jamaica Bauxite Mining Limited; and Bauxite and Alumina Trading Company of Jamaica Limited (BATCO).

Another public sector consultation is scheduled to take place, followed by two sessions, which will target private sector stakeholders and the general public.