THE MINISTRY of Labour and Social Security on Monday wrote to the Ausjam Mining Company in Pennants, Clarendon, for its response to claims by the United Union of Jamaica (UUJ) that the company has failed to pay over benefits to the 18 unionised workers who have been affected by the company's discontinuation of gold mining operations.
Ausjam halted mining operation on Monday, December 1, citing financial constraints the result of what it said was low ore grades and unreasonable demands by the union.
In the meantime, Coy Roache, Commissioner of Mines and Geology in the Ministry of Land and Environment, said that last Tuesday officials from the Ministry visited the site and they were satisfied that the conditions at the facility were safe.
He also said that come January, the company would be conducting exploration exercises to determine whether there was more ore at the facility. If enough of the substance is found, he said that mining operations could resume by June.
At the same time, Mr. Roache said that the gold mining company would consider expanding its plant capacity to process 50 tonnes of earth per hour for gold instead of the existing 10 to 12 tonnes per hour. However, he said that this would mean that operation would be restarted far later than June.
Should gold mining operations resume as late as June, Ausjam could find itself making redundancy payments to the workers. Section 5A of the Employment (Termination and Redundancy Payments) Act states, "An employee who has been laid off without pay for a period in excess of 120 days may by notice in writing to the employer elect to be regarded as dismissed by reason of redundancy."
