Lavern Clarke, Business Editor

Bauxite pier in Discovery Bay, St. Ann. Bauxite shipments resumed last week. - File

Jamaica's bauxite sector lost four to five days of production as a result of Hurricane Dean, but sector expert Dr. Paris Lyew-Ayee said that with the swift recovery, export targets are unlikely to be disrupted.

"Overall, we fared well," said Lyew-Ayee, director general of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute. "We had prepared well to minimise the damage."

Up to Wednesday, Jamalco, which is co-owned by Jamaica's Clarendon Alumina Partners and Alcoa, was the only sector player whose shipments remained on hold, even though its plant was up and running.

Jamalco's port at Rocky Point in Clarendon was hit during the Category 4 hurricane.

Lyew-Ayee said discussions are underway with rival Windalco, owners of Port Esquivel, to ship Jamalco's output from the St Catherine-based facility.

Jamalco spokesman Brian Doy said the port facility at Rocky Point, Clarendon, suffered considerable damage.

"We have a team assessing the damage and developing a restoration plan," Doy told the Financial Gleaner.

"It is too early to put a value on the damage."

Doy added that the train line to the port was now operational and that while production at the refinery has resumed, it would "take time to become fully operational."

Meantime, Lyew-Ayee said the sector remained confident it would meet and targets and set a new export record.

Up to the end of July, Jamaica had shipped total equivalent bauxite of 8.78 million tonnes. That figure represented a 4.1 per cent increase in tonnages shipped in the matching period last year

"We were doing farily well," he said.

Jamaica had projected levy income of $1.1 billion for the first fiscal quarter, but the treasury actually took in more than $1.4 billion in the period ending June 2007.

With the sector's performance to July and its swift recovery from Dean, the JBI director said there was confidence that the year's target of 15 million tonnes would be met.

"We're going to try; we should be able to do it," he told the Financial Gleaner.

"The staff and amangement are resilient. They want to break the record again."

Last year, Jamaica's total bauxite production topped 14.7 million tonnes, which was 5.3 per cent above 2005's previous high of 14.3 million tonnes.

The export value of bauxite and alumina last year topped US$1.1 billion.

The 1.42 million tonne capacity Jamalco is producing and storing supplies in preparation for resumption of shipment, said Lyew-Ayee.

St Ann Bauxite, whose capacity is 4.8 million tonnes. was back on stream last Tuesday, followed by Alpart and Windalco.

By last weekend, all three were shipping produce, said Lyew-Ayee.

lavern.clarke@gleanerjm.com