Quarry operators abandon Matura site

LESS than 24 hours after the operators of a quarry in Matura were alerted to the potential environmental impact on a protected rainforest and a leatherback turtle nesting site, they have abandoned the 72-acre parcel of land, which is near the 947-acre Manzanilla Windbelt Forest Reserve.

Matura residents said there was a buzz of activity along Orosco Bay Road as excavators and a 40-foot container were loaded onto trailers and moved out with a police escort.

On August 16, during an interview with two directors of Trillions Systems Ltd – Kerron Rose and Rodrigo Kabira – the operators of the quarry were made aware of the potential negative effects of the quarry on the rainforest and turtle-nesting site.

The directors said they had a mining licence from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries and a certificate of environmental clearance from the Environmental Management Authority to operate a quarry.

However, the EMA, in an e-mailed response to questions from Newsday on August 16, said Trillions Systems Ltd did not have a CEC. The EMA said it intended to file a report with the Multi-Agency Task Force, a specialist unit of the police service, to clamp down on illegal quarrying.

In an Instagram post, on August 17, the directors of Trillions said they were standing down their operations "after getting a call" about how the quarry could affect the turtles. They said they had two other pieces of land with better materials which they intended to focus on.

Trillions Systems Ltd was registered in November 2022 and is primarily a crypto-currency exchange company. The company says it has other investments in quarrying and other investment streams.

Police intend to continue their investigations into the matter, according to senior officers.

There was no response to messages sent to the Prime Minister and Energy Minister Stuart Young via WhatsApp on August 18.

Several environmentalists expressed alarm over the quarrying activity in Matura and demanded action by State authorities to protect the rainforest and the turtles.

Former EMA chairman Dr Allan Bachan told Newsday the area has a very rich biodiversity.

"It is an important area for waterfowl, together with being a critical habitat for some endangered reptiles and mammals. The system contains a number of commercially important aquatic species and is an important eco-tourism and conservation site. The ecosystem services such as the ecotourism tours provided by these coastal and marine habitats are of crucial importance to the livelihoods of the community. The coastal beaches experience heavy seasonal use for ecotourism-based turtle watching, hosting between 15,000 to 16,000 visitors per year."

He said coastal ecosystems including the Windbelt region, mangroves, seagrasses and tidal areas are critical to mitigating climate impacts and improving human well-being.

There are several other illegal quarries stretching from Wallerfield to Matura operating unhindered in sight of State authorities. Criminal gangs employed to protect the quarries have been linked to over 20 murders in the Eastern Division.