MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Technical business consultant Coy Roache says despite the downsides of the bauxite/alumina industry it remains a cornerstone of the Jamaican economy and there is no easy replacement.

“We speak to life after bauxite, but you should be saying lets live with bauxite because the reality is that there is nothing to replace it in the near future,” he told political and business leaders at the Manchester Bauxite and Alumina Industry Conference held at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) on Thursday.

Roache, a former executive in the bauxite/ alumina industry, said mining for other Earth minerals, like limestone, is not as profitable as bauxite and its processed derivative alumina.

The latter is the base material for the light metal aluminum which is used in the manufacturing of numerous products, ranging from household items to cars and aeroplanes. Statistics provided at the conference showed net inflows of US$277.3 million from bauxite and alumina in 2020.

“During COVID-19, there was a shipment of limestone out of Ocho Rios of 40,000 tonnes and the guys were boasting that they had earned US $1 million. When I used to ship [bauxite], at today’s price, that amount would earn you US$15 million, so there is no other activity in Jamaica which can fetch you that kind of money,” he explained.

However, he conceded that there are environmental consequences, which he says, the world has to bear.

“Mining already adversely affects the environment, but we can’t do without it. The world knows you can’t do without it. There are some countries that ban mining, but they have to import,” he said, while pointing to equipment inside NCU’s gymnatorium, which are made of materials originating from mining and alumina refining.

Down the years south-central Jamaica depended on the bauxite industry, which had provided thousands of jobs prior to the closure of two refineries, namely Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO)/Alpart at Nain in St Elizabeth and the now mothballed Windalco Kirkvine alumina plant in Manchester.

The Kirkvine alumina plant now owned by Russian aluminum conglomerate UC Rusal was closed down in 2009 and has not resumed operations since, despite numerous indications of interest to do so by the company and former government ministers of mining.

The timeline for the start of the long-proposed modernisation of the JISCO/Alpart bauxite refinery at Nain, which has been closed for 2019, remains unknown, with JISCO being tight-lipped.

The owners and operators of JISCO told a public forum in Santa Cruz in March that they are proposing to mine nearly 700 acres of land embraced by 11 communities near Santa Cruz in the Essex Valley region.

Mining consultants say once there is approval of the special mining lease, mining would start within four years.

The areas include Pepper, Long Hill, Friendship, Fellowship, Southampton, Northampton, Goshen, Gilnock, Mitcham, Peru Pen, and just outside Santa Cruz.

In Clarendon, the operations at the Jamalco alumina plant have been at a standstill since a fire in August 2021. The operators say alumina production will resume when a new powerhouse, now under construction, is completed.

— Kasey Williams