Gov't said unaware of plans for Ewarton bauxite plant closure

Thursday, February 09, 2012

MINISTER of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell says that UC RUSAL, the world's largest aluminium producer, has not conveyed to the Government any intention of closing its Ewarton plant in St Catherine.

The minister was responding to questions posed by Opposition spokesman on mining, JC Hutchinson, as to whether the outfit has plans to scale down or close their mining operations in Jamaica among other things.

"UC Rusal owns 100 per cent of ALPART and 93 per cent of WINDALCo. Alpart and WINDALCo Kirkvine have been closed since 2009 while the Ewarton plant was reopened in 2010 and has remained open since then. The Ewarton plant has a capacity of 550,000 tonnes and it aims to produce at this level, we do not know of plans to close Ewarton, UC Rusal has not stated any intention to close Ewarton, which is where the operations are now," Paulwell told the House of Representatives Tuesday.

In addressing the issue of whether there would be any dislocation of infrastructure to communities by the removal of any structure or equipment by the company Paulwell has insisted that "no equipment is being removed that will affect adjoining communities".

"It must be explained that the equipment mentioned in the press is owned by the contractor Washington Group Incorporated. This contractor was hired by the former owner. It was subsequently found that the use of these large trucks are less economical than the use of smaller local trucks. These large trucks and other mining equipment were parked since 2009. UC Rusal completed the termination of the contract in November 2011 and purchased the equipment which they have no intention of using in Jamaica," the energy minister explained.

" ...Using local trucks is desirable as it provides more jobs for these communities while being more effective in small pits," he added.

Tuesday, Paulwell said he was also unaware of whether the company had removed any Bailey bridges or whether there was disruption of water systems within the areas served by the company.

"I am not aware of any such removal of bridges. I am going to be touring the facilities on Friday. I will make my own observations but so far I am not aware of any removal of bridges or water systems," he told Parliament.

In January, the management of WINDALCo, in addressing concerns in the public domain regarding the movement of various pieces of equipment from its Ewarton and Kirkvine locations to Port Esquivel said UC RUSAL has taken the decision to execute most of its mining activities in Jamaica using small mining solutions operated by local contractors.

Secondly, it said UC RUSAL has almost completed negotiations to purchase the mining fleet that was owned and operated at Ewarton and Kirkvine by Washington Group International (WGI).

The company said the large equipment in this fleet, while unsuitable for majority of the mining activities in Jamaica are a better solution for use in UC RUSAL's mining operations in Guyana. It said given the company's plan to increase production at that facility, it took the necessary steps to acquire the fleet from WGI.

"Please be assured that the purchase and movement of equipment is strictly related to having the most efficient equipment for the job at the respective facilities and in no way alters any plans that RUSAL has for its Jamaican facilities," the mining operation said further.