A mining scandal touching the highest levels of government has erupted over the past couple of months in Jamaica, traditionally one of the world's great centres for bauxite mining, with companies such as Alcan, Kaiser and Alpart active in the country over the decades. The latest brouhaha centres around a wide region of relatively pristine mountainous forest reserve in western Jamaica named "Cockpit Country" that supplies 40% of the water for western Jamaica. Underlying the forest are valuable limestone and bauxite resources.
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