The area shown in blue on the map is the Litchfield Mountain - Matheson's Run KBA. It is threatened by expansion of Noranda Bauxite Co's plans to extend mining from their current Mining Lease #165.
The first indication of this was when Noranda crossed the Caledonia - Gibraltar road and cut a new Haul Road through the hill into Cockpit Country (CC) (The Caledonia - Barnstaple road marks the western boundary of SML 165 and the eastern boundary of CC)
We have held a number of community meetings in the communities of Gibraltar, Madras and Barnstaple and, on 21 July 2015, we held a public meeting on the site of the new Haul Road. This was followed by an impromptu community demonstration about a mile away , in Caledonia. The media was invited and the Observer ran an article while Simon Crosskill devoted most of his one-hour TV programme “Live@7” to the subject.
We continue to work with the communities to counter the threat of bauxite mining and , on 23rd September, we held a Press Briefing in Kingston and delivered letters from both the LM-MR Communities and the western CC communities to NEPA, Mines & Geology Division, Minister of Agriculture and Ministof Miming (see Gleaner article. Simon Crosskill invited representatives to participate in his Live@7 on 26 October.