A Dead-end for Vulcan Mining Operation in Gales Point Manatee
On Tuesday, Prime Minister John Briceño chaired a Cabinet meeting in Belmopan during which several issues were discussed, including government’s position on mining activity in the vicinity of Gales Point Manatee. Senior officials within the Briceño administration have taken a collective policy decision that no surface mining, including strip, open put or mountain top, shall be permitted near Gales Point Village. That conclusion effectively dismisses Vulcan’s plan to mine for aggregates on White Ridge Farms. This afternoon, News Five spoke with Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development. Here’s what he shared with us by phone.
On the phone: Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
“As you know, this has been out there that the company, Vulcan, has interest in acquiring, I don’t know if they have acquired, it’s a private deal with White Ridge Farms to purchase some farms that White Ridge owns in the Manatee area and all the information we got was that they were interested in doing some mining in that area. As you know, we have had the voices out there saying that it is not a good type of investment to make, especially in terms of the ecosystems within that area. We have villagers, the community from Gales Point Manatee going against it. But to be fair, our team, along with, I think, the Minerals Unit from the Ministry of Natural Resources met with the people from Vulcan to hear them out, but whilst we had our Cabinet meeting, Cabinet decided as the executive arm of government that they will not be entertaining any type of development that has to do with any type of mining at this time. The Cabinet’s decision really was that it will not support any project development in Gales Point Manatee that will involve any type of mining, given the fact that there is this very sensitive nature of the area. Of course, from my ministry, we are looking at the biodiversity and all the benefits from the watershed, certainly that immense ecological value and ecological systems that surround the entire area. So it was not prudent for us to engage in that type of development.”
