CHAPTER 14 REGULATION OF INDUSTRIAL MINERALS IN ISLAND NATIONS

• Jurisdiction: Derecho Internacional

International Mining Law and Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean
(Apr 2005)
CHAPTER 14
REGULATION OF INDUSTRIAL MINERALS IN ISLAND NATIONS
Coy Roache
Commissioner of Mines and Geology, Ministry of Land and Environment
Deputy Permanent Representative to the International Seabed Authority
Kingston, Jamaica

Coy Roache joined the Mines Department of Jamaica in 1971 and worked as a Mining Inspector moving up to Senior Inspector before winning a European Development Fund scholarship to Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK where he graduated with a honours degree in production engineering.

Immediately on his return to Jamaica in 1983 he was promoted to Chief Mining Inspector and within two years to Deputy Commissioner of Mines and in 1987 Commissioner of Mines with the responsibility for regulating all mining, quarrying and explosive handling and use.

To strengthen his management skills Mr. Roache completed the post graduate diploma in management studies at the University of the West Indies where he also completed the Master of Business Administration (MBA) after winning a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Scholarship.

Between April 1995 & March 1996 he spent a year at the Ministry of Public Utilities & Transport as the Chief Technical Director before returning to mining to manage the combined Mines & Quarries and Geological Survey Divisions.

Mr, Roache was a member of the Jamaican delegation to the United Nations Preparatory Commission for the Law of The Sea between 1988 and 1994 and a member of the delegation to the International Seabed Authority since, holding the position of Deputy Permanent Representative. In the year 2000 as chairman of the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) he served as Vice-President of the Council and the Assembly of the Authority. He is a member of the Finance Committee of the Authority representing the Latin America & Caribbean region.

He is a member of the Jamaican team negotiating Jamaica's maritime boundaries at sea between Colombia, Cuba, Honduras & the Cayman Islands. He has represented Jamaica and the region while serving on the Coordinating Committee for the Mining Ministries of the Americas and is presently the America's representative on the G-15 Committee for the collaboration and development of industrial minerals. As Commissioner of Mines and Geology, Mr Roache serves on the Ocean Council of Jamaica and, is a member of the Technical Review Committee of National Environmental and Planning agency.

Stratigraphy Structural Outline
JAMAICA'S SETTING amended from Jackson

INTRODUCTION

A small island nation like Jamaica situated in the Caribbean has to balance resources among its economic activities and in so doing has a great challenge in the allotment of lands for mining, tourism, agriculture and housing while preserving the environment.

Jamaica is a mining country and produced 13.3 million tonnes of bauxite in 2004 and a similar amount of construction material and other industrial minerals. Tourism is the largest earner of foreign exchange followed by mining. These two activities are normally regarded as conflicting as mining is not attractive to tourists. The island total surface area is only 11,000 square kilometres and this means that nothing is very far from everything else.

Bauxite mining takes place close to or within communities and quarrying takes place on a similar basis except that over time limestone quarrying has been gradually...