Compensation to landowners for use of bauxite lands in Jamaica: assessing the legal issues

Bauxite companies in Jamaica have increasingly begun to feel the ire of the owners of bauxite lands who believe that they have been denied reasonable compensation for the use of their lands by bauxite companies for the purposes of mining bauxite. The Mining Act speaks to the landowner being fairly and reasonably compensated for the damage done to the surface rights of the land during the bauxite mining process. It does not consider how a landowner should be compensated when the bauxite company unlawfully acquires the landowner’s property. Where property has been compulsorily acquired, the landowner must be adequately compensated.