Joining Babylon - Opportunity or Curse - A study about the local Population's Perceptions of the Mining Industry in Jamaica

Abstract

This thesis tries to give an accurate description of the perceptions of the local people in a developing country about big Multinational Corporations (MNC) operating within their community, in one particular case. The big MNC will be represented by a bauxite mining company that also refines bauxite to alumina. The study has been conducted in the close proximity to the alumina refining plant of that company. The plant is located roughly 10 kilometers outside Mandeville, Jamaica. The methods used to establish the perception of the local population were primarily semi structured interviews that took place at informal meetings. The interviewed people were chosen both deliberately and at random to be able to capture people’s perception in general. People were divided in subgroups of directly connected, indirectly connected and no connection at all in regard to the mining industry. The results showed that the perception of the mining company was mixed, in what was emphasized. There was however a consensus about the issues touched upon. People were aware and grateful for the benefits that the mining company provided. People often pointed out the contributions in form of wages and other social benefits for the area, but there was substantial concern for the environment and health of the people. The level of awareness about different issues varied a lot. The current economic situation led to many redundancies in the area and that the plant shut down. The plant was being maintained, at the time of the study. Many people expressed concerns for the future, but almost everybody was in agreement that they wanted to see the plant up and running again. So the future for the area remains unknown, but people believed that they were better off with the help of the mining company than without it. The Corporate Social Responsibility policy that the company was following did have some major positive contribution in the area.