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Business View Caribbean
50 September 2015 - Business View Caribbean
National Quarries Company Limited
Mining for trinidad’s future
National Quarries Company Limited was established
by the government of Trinidad and Tobago in 1979, for
the purpose of managing and regulating the country’s
quarry industry. For many years before independence,
and even for some time afterward, this important sec-
tor of Trinidad’s extractive industries struggled for sta-
bility. While attempting to meet the country’s on-again,
off-again construction booms and their concomitant
need for aggregate building materials, it also had to
navigate the ups and downs of the island’s uncertain
economy. The result was an industry wracked with
inefficiencies, intermittent shortages, and extreme
price fluctuations for its products. In addition, it was
plagued, from time to time, with random acts of van-
dalism, periodic bankruptcies, and illegal operations
by some of its private mine owners.
Bevon Cook is National Quarries current Chief Execu-
tive Officer. He explains the origin and purpose of the
company: “National Quarries Limited is a state enter-
prise. During the late seventies, there was an oil boom
and the consequence of that was increased construc-
tion and development of the infrastructure of Trinidad
and Tobago. One of the key initiatives for all national
