Last Wednesday's report by this newspaper of the plan by Windalco to spend an estimated J$3 billion (US$45 million) to establish a new chemical lime factory to service its two alumina refineries in Jamaica, is of itself good news for the national economy.

At present, these refineries, with a combined capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per year, use about 100,000 tonnes of lime in the processing of bauxite into alumina. The old, inefficient lime plant at Windalco's Kirkvine facility produces less than half of the company's requirement. That means that the shortfall is made up by imports.

Windalco has said that producing the product (calcium oxide) locally at a state-of-the-art facility, will mean savings for the company, which is good for the investors and, ultimately, for Jamaica; for Jamaica's ageing alumina refineries operate in an increasingly difficult global marketplace where cost competitiveness is critical to long-term survival.

In the 1990s, the industry made gains in this regard, with the island moving up to the second quadrant of the league table of efficiency. Rising energy costs and new alumina refineries, especially in China and Russia, threaten these advances. From that standpoint alone, therefore, the Windalco investment is important. Then, we might add the jobs and other spin-offs from the plant.

The Windalco initiative, however, alerts us to a potential that is beyond the needs of that company or the domestic market. For instance, the total shortfall in lime production for bauxite/alumina production is about 90,000 tonnes. This will grow with each expansion of alumina production. Indeed, the planned doubling of the capacity of the Jamalco alumina refinery would also double its requirement for lime, all of which it now buys from the Cemex-owned Rugby Lime.

It seems to us, therefore, that there are, on this front alone, great business opportunities in lime, produced from a raw material (limestone) that covers three quarters of Jamaica and of which there is a reserve of billions of tonnes. There is also the opportunity for exporting limestone raw as a construction material, such as in road building, or by going into downstream production, such as ingredients for paint or toothpaste.

Unfortunately, there has not, up to now, been any takers and no significant investment in the sector since the establishment of the Rugby facility, with its capacity of 120,000 tonnes, and the problematic Western Cement. In fact, Windalco, which argued that lime was not its core operation, and would be better done by others, also decided to go ahead with this investment only after failing to entice others to take the plunge.

In this context, we wish to revisit an idea that has been raised by others in the past, but has not gained traction. Jamaica's bauxite/alumina sector has grown into a global force in part because of the direction the industry has received by the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI), which has acted as a research, policy development and policing agency. The JBI's work is recognised globally.

It would perhaps make sense if a similar, but separate institute, with the appropriate expertise, is established to conduct research and to steer the development of the lime industry. For this is a much under exploited resource.