Mining Ministry Moves to Overhaul Regulation After Audit Findings

Mining ministry moves to overhaul regulation after audit findings

The Ministry of Mining is overhauling its Mines and Geology Division (MGD) after a performance audit exposed significant weaknesses in the regulation, monitoring, and enforcement of mining and quarrying activities. The audit, conducted by the Auditor General’s Department, assessed the MGD’s licensing, monitoring, and enforcement actions between 2019 and 2020 and 2023 and 2024, with figures tracked up to December 2025.

Licensing, Monitoring and Enforcement Actions by the MGD – Auditor General's Department

Jamaica’s mining and quarrying sector supports export earnings, infrastructure development, manufacturing, and public revenue through royalties, taxes, licence fees, and dividends from the Government’s equity in mining companies. The Mines and Geology Division (MGD), within the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining (MoAFM), is responsible for regulating the sector under the Mining Act 1947 and the Quarries Control Act 1984, to ensure that mining and quarrying operations are properly authorised, monitored, and enforced in keeping with the law and the public interest. The MGD’s mandate is relevant to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG-15): “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”, and to Jamaica’s Vision 2030 Plan, namely Goal 4: “Jamaica has a healthy natural environment”, and National Outcome 13: “Sustainable use and management of environmental and natural resources”. An audit was commissioned to assess whether MGD’s licensing, monitoring, and enforcement arrangements were effective in supporting orderly and compliant mining and quarrying operations. This report was submitted to Parliament on September 8, 2026.