At left is mining equipment lying idle at the Ausjam gold mine. At right is Sailah-Ian Allen photos
A LABOUR dispute at the Ausjam gold mine in Kraal, Clarendon, has put in limbo plans for a major investment in a scrap metal recycling project.
Paul Sailah, the Australian investor behind the Ausjam gold mine, says given the labour relations problems he has had at that facility, he is reconsidering whether he should go ahead with a project to invest US$10 million in a scrap metal plant in Jamaica.
Mr. Sailah told The Sunday Gleaner that he had designed a major investment deal based on the country's large amount of waste metal.
"We would buy all the scrap metal on the island old cars, old fridges, heavy scrap. We'd put in a barge to collect scrap from across the Caribbean, bring it back to a central processing site in Kingston and then export it. We'd also put in an oil recycling plant, so we'd buy all the waste oil on the island. That would also help Jamaica. The country would then have to import less fossil fuels because we would reclaim the fossil fuels already here and use them to generate power," he said.
The oil recycling project he said would generate 10.5 megawatts of power and throw seven to eight megawatts back into the national grid, which would possibly give Jamaicans cheaper electricity.
The recycling project, he said would have employed, directly and indirectly,
people in Kingston.
Given his troubles at the gold mine, however, Mr. Sailah said he had decided to put the recycling project on hold because he was so frustrated with what was happening at the gold mine.
At the time of last week's announced closure the company had 18 workers on its payroll. That factor, according to Mr. Sailah and his plant manager, Chris Brown, lay at the heart of the decision to shutdown the operation.
The two men described as "highly unreasonable and unrealistic", the demands placed on the small company by James Francis, President of the United Union of Jamaica (UUJ).
Mr. Francis has made no secret of his demand that the gold mine workers be paid at the same level of their counterparts elsewhere in the mining and quarrying sector.
The immediate aim, he told The Sunday Gleaner, was to get them as close as possible to what workers employed in the cement industry were being paid.
The Ausjam workers, he said, were being paid wages at three levels: $135 per hour; $210 per hour; and $260 per hour. The union's latest demand was for those pay scales to be pumped up to $180; $260; and $300 per hour.
Chris Brown has scoffed however at the cement comparison, describing it as ludicrous.
"We are nowhere close to the Cement Company, not even as large as some of the limestone companies they have in Jamaica. It's a fledgling operation with the potential and the hope to go much further, much bigger, but right now it has to be understood for what it is," said Mr. Brown.
Mr. Sailah said he did not want to end up with a similar situation "where people keep destroying me."
Asked about the chances of a return to full operation, Sailah said several things would have to change, including the attitude of the workers.
"I expect to have a good stable workforce and people who appreciate what it takes to make a success of this venture," he said.
If his faith in Jamaica as an investment location were to be resolved, he said that he would be ready immediately to proceed with the project.
EQUIPMENT LINED UP
"I've got the equipment lined up in England and Germany. I'm ready to push the button on the whole thing, but I cannot go ahead with it at this time," said Mr. Sailah.
Michael McMorris, executive director of Markets at JAMPRO, the Government's investment promotion agency, when contacted by The Sunday Gleaner, acknowledged that they had received the project proposal from Mr. Sailah, but would not comment further.
Alston Stewart, executive chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, which would have to license such an operation, said his agency had not yet been approached on the project.350
