COME May the Government will have a new partner in the Halse Hall, Clarendon-based Jamalco alumina refinery as its current partner the Noble Group has reached an agreement to sell its stake.

A release early Tuesday said Chicago-based Century Aluminum Company agreed to acquire Noble’s 55 per cent ownership interest in Jamalco through a wholly owned subsidiary. The Government has since issued a statement of its own, offering a “non-objection to the transaction” and welcoming Century as its new managing partner at Jamalco. None of the releases stated the value of the acquisition but said it should be completed by the end of April 2023.

“This acquisition is highly strategic for Century as it secures a predictable, long-term supply of alumina, our most critical raw material, and achieves increased transparency and control of our supply chain,” Jesse Gary, president and CEO of Century, was quoted as saying in the release.

“Acquiring this interest in Jamalco allows us to integrate our aluminium smelting operations with this critical upstream supply of bauxite and alumina to create a more balanced and robust operational footprint, resulting in an organisation that is better positioned to deliver strong performance through industry cycles,” Gary continued.

With an annual alumina production capacity of approximately 1.4 million tonnes and a workforce of over 900 employees, Gary noted that Jamalco is a well-known and highly regarded organisation with a world-class operational team.

“The company has historically proven its competitive advantages through its consistent production of high-quality alumina, strategic geographic footprint in the Atlantic alumina market, and strong corporate culture focused on safety, integrity, and employee well-being.”

Continuing Gary said, “We believe this acquisition will ultimately provide Century and our stockholders with a meaningful opportunity for long-term value creation. We are very excited to add this high-potential asset to our portfolio and we look forward to working with our new joint-venture partner, Clarendon Alumina Production Limited.” The Government owns 45 per cent of Jamalco through Century Alumina Production Limited.

Jamalco is a joint venture between Century Aluminum and Clarendon Alumina Production (CAP) with a focus on bauxite mining and alumina production. The company started as a bauxite mining venture in 1959 and exported its first shipment of bauxite in 1963. The company began alumina production at a new refinery in Halse Hall, Clarendon, in 1972 with a production capacity of 500,000 metric tonnes per year (mtpy), which it exported from its port facility at Rocky Point. The refinery’s capacity was upgraded to 1 million mtpy in 1999 and then to 1.25 million mtpy in 2003. The completion of a further upgrade in March 2007 lifted the production capacity of the refinery to 1.425 million metric tonnes per year.

In November 2021, Jamalco experienced a fire which engulfed the power plant, halting production at the plant for almost a year before partial production resumed on a single digester basis in August 2022. In order to restore the refinery to its rated capacity of 1.4 million tonnes, a series of further investments, referred to as Project Restore, are required.

With the transfer of Noble’s share-ownership to Century, the Government said the necessary investments are expected to be made, in association with Clarendon Alumina Production to improve Jamalco’s operating efficiency and to restore the facility to a top place among the top two quartiles of the global ranking of alumina producers.

Furthermore, Century is aligned with the GOJ on the priority of transitioning Jamalco from an unincorporated joint venture legal structure arrangement to a limited liability company structure.

“These efforts will therefore continue and are expected to gain increased momentum and achieve completion,” the release stated.