Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
THE LANDMARK US$800 million expansion of the Jamalco alumina refinery in Halse Hall, Clarendon, officially commenced yesterday with a ground-breaking ceremony at the facility, patronised by the Prime Minister and other officials.
The project is the single largest expansion project in the more than 50-year history of the Jamaican bauxite alumina industry. It is also the largest single investment in the local economy.
Mr. Patterson praised the management and staff of Jamalco and noted that the project will offer significant benefits to the nation as a whole. "It (the expansion) will boost construction activity, increase foreign direct investment, create employment and business activity. All of this will translate into increased economic activity and growth, and importantly, the earning of additional foreign exchange that is required to pay our way out of debt and develop our country," the Prime Minister said.
A PROUD MOMENT
Mr. Patterson added that the expansion project will also require the labour of local welders, pipe-fitters, electrical technicians, steel workers, equipment operators, among others. This, he said, would ensure that a substantial portion of the money being invested in the project will remain in the Jamaican economy.
Jerome Maxwell, managing director of Jamalco, said the ground-breaking ceremony represented a proud moment for the company and Jamaica as a whole. "It really is an honour, and we will soon see this refinery become a world-class refinery," he said.
On December 22 last year, Alcoa announced that its Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC) affiliate and the Government of Jamaica had signed an agreement in principle to expand the Jamalco alumina refinery in Clarendon by more than 1.5 million metric tonnes per year. The expansion will more than double the refinery's total capacity to at least 2.8 million tonnes per year, the company said.
ENCOURAGING INVESTMENT
In addition, AWAC ownership in the refinery will move from 50 per cent to 70 per cent. The Government of Jamaica will continue to own the remaining 30 per cent.
The expansion initiative stems from a 2002 agreement with the Jamaican Government to remove a nearly 30-year-old levy on bauxite in order to encourage investment.
