A second meeting between government and environmental groups, to discuss possible mining in the Cockpit Country, has been scheduled for early January, according to Roger Clarke, Minister of Agriculture and Lands.

Mr. Clarke, speaking at an end-of-year press briefing at his ministry's Hope Road offices, said the meeting was intended to unearth "practical and sustainable solutions".

The Lands Minister said the Government of Jamaica was vested with the responsibility for the protection of the environment.

"We, therefore, considered it important to meet with the environmental lobby groups to come up with a practical and sustainable solution to the concerns raised in relation to prospecting in the Cockpit Country," he said.

Environmental lobbyists and various interest groups have lashed out at the idea that the Government is to award a bauxite-prospecting licence to Jamalco, the alumina refinery owned by Alcoa Minerals and the Jamaican Government, to determine the mineral reserves in the Cockpit Country.