June 2018c

74 75 locally is increasing, as a result of improve- ment in the economy and tremendous invest- ment coming in from the hotel sector – there are a number of new hotels being built, as well as significant infrastructure develop- ment going on - mostly financed from China; the Chinese are in the process of filling every vacuum in the region that has been left va- cant by the U.S. pullback. We’re talking bil- lions of dollars of infrastructure investment.” BVC: Is competition a major factor and how do you differentiate Lydford Mining? Cousins: “There has been a restructuring of the mining and quarrying industries in Ja- maica. Because of the difficulty in accessing capital, the small operators can’t generate the efficiencies needed to get to the next step. So, there has been some consolidation among the bigger players but, more impor- tantly, because of the increased development, there is actually a shortage of aggregate. The timing for us is fortuitous. Also, there has been a shift in government policy from the traditional source of construction material (volcanic material produced naturally from the rivers), towards a manufactured construc- tion material from limestone. Which is exactly where we’re positioned. “Truth be told, we’re very well known inter- LYDFORD MINING CO. nationally. We don’t need to market ourselves in the food and pharmaceutical grade because there are so few players in the international market that everybody knows who everybody is. Locally, although we have been very successful in the last year selling into the construction aggregate market, we haven’t pushed it until we have the big new plant installed. Then, we will definitely go forward with a marketing program, including a web- site; as it is we already have most of the major builders and contractors coming to us. So, we’re encouraged. “One thing we’ve always taken pride in is that we never take on something unless we are certain we can deliver efficiently at a good price. We prefer to put things in place and then go out once we have the capacity.” BVC: You have a strong momentum going. What are Lydford Mining’s objectives for the future, and what do you see ahead for