Over the past few months, we've been reporting on Vulcan Materials Company's proposed plan for their White Ridge Project, which would include mining the mountains adjacent to Gales Point Manatee. We've also told you that the residents of the village were adamantly against it, saying that it would be detrimental to the environment and marine life.
Ministers have also spoken out against the project, but it wasn't until today that the Cabinet announced its policy decision that, quote, "No surface mining or any other type of mining activity in the Gales Point Manatee area shall be permitted having regard to the surrounding communities' concerns and given the threats and damages it may cause to the environment, including its extensive and sensitive biodiversity, watershed and other immense ecological systems." End quote.
And that's great news for the villagers, who were ready to fight tooth and nail to prevent this project from moving forward. Today we got the reaction of the chairman, Jason Altschaft, via Zoom.
Jason Altshaft, Chairman, Gales Point Manatee
"Well, if you could see me do a cartwheel, I would do it. But that's the kind of feeling we have; we still know we have to worry because they're still going to be our neighbors which could be okay but we know that their focus is mining. We've already asked them to possibly do some other things and we're thankful that we do have some people in the village working right now doing some maintenance and doing that kind of stuff but happy there will be no mining, that's our ultimate, ultimate draw the line in the sand. As a neighbor we're willing to work with you but definitely not as minors. It's a testament to the people. We honestly, we're open ears, we studied, we learned, and we came to the conclusion and put our foot down and that is… I almost have to say thank you to Vulcan in a way because it has bonded our village in so many different ways. You know that's a weird thing to say because we've been battling them but by how it brought the community together, it's awfully exciting and we're hoping we can keep the momentum rolling right through this to where we have a goal to of making Gales Point an example for the rest of Belize into the future. You know, recycling and being ahead on energy use, things like that, so I think this can help us springboard into that. There is going to be a lot of development already, I believe David Gegg got his approval for the Magical Port, that's just on the Northern Lagoon right there so that's going to be exciting, we hear of other big developments that are coming between us and that, that maybe some roads will be built, we have five new owners on the beach property right directly east of Gales Point which is going to be perfect for the villagers to help build and do things like this so it's exciting because there's a lot coming to us, we're just going to have to manage this and try to be ahead of it, now that we have all this attention on us, I think that we can do good with the NGO's and make sure we don't abuse things and everybody's on the same board, I do think we need to make the Belizean law a little stronger against companies that was to come in and basically use our resources without us really benefiting from it. They said they want the hills, we've told them about the possibility of saving their land for carbon credits and making their company look good, can't you just save this one place and maybe do some agriculture, saving this corridor and then your company looks good. They don't want to hear that, they told us out of their mouth, we're miners. So, we know that is their focus, we've seen how determined they are when they heard no from everybody, they still said, well, there's many that still want to hear questions. That's not true, that's just not true. I really feel that they may know something that we don't know about what's in those mountains. I've even heard that it's not profitable to sell aggregate rock outside of the country so where are they going to make their money, how are they going to make their money out of just aggregate rock for roads? There has to be something else in there, I can't prove it, but we don't know."
And just before 4 this evening, Vulcan Materials Company responded to this decision. They said, quote, "We believe that a sustainably developed and managed White Ridge Project could bring benefits to Gales Point Manatee, the surrounding area, and Belize as a whole. Our intention has always been to follow the transparent and detailed processes established in Belizean law for the study, consultation, and consideration of any investment project." End quote.
