Bauxite looking for a restart

Lance Neita, Contributor

There is good news ahead for the country with the anticipated restart of the Windalco Ewarton alumina plant in St Catherine. We were told to expect a reopening in June and the operating units, tanks and vessels are now being charged for full steam ahead over the next few weeks.

An alumina plant needs time, up to four weeks at least, before the digestion, clarification, precipitation and calcination areas critical to the processing of alumina are ready for the alumina-containing liquor circuit to pass through the system.

It's an exciting time at Ewarton these days and one which will bring smiles to the faces of a community that depended on the company to a some degree for employment and economic and social assistance.

The smiles will also be at the Ministry of Finance as the revived operations carry the potential for providing a welcome and well-needed boost to the economy over the long term.

Jamaica will still be hoping that the other arm of Windalco, the Kirkvine alumina plant in Manchester, and the much larger Alpart plant, the 1,600,000 ton annual capacity operations headquartered at Nain in St Elizabeth, will reopen in the not-too-distant future.

The industry has kept its head up during this period of closure, and deserves much credit for the maintenance of social responsibility programmes in its communities conducted at great expense to companies presently without earning power.

Outstanding instance

Alpart and Windalco have continued to supply water to thousands of persons and dozens of institutions, a point not lost on the farmers of South St Elizabeth who depended almost solely on Alpart's resources during the extensive drought conditions that persisted January to June this year.

The record and the performance remain an outstanding instance of corporate social responsibility, where in the case of Alpart the company invited community residents to take on the massive tasks of descaling, sanitation and landscaping projects necessary to prepare the plant's readiness for any future start-up.

This represents a bold step forward in the history of industry community relations, and demonstrates trust and confidence in a community that has often been at odds with the company, but which has over a period of time taken its place as a viable stakeholder seen as integral to a successful reopening when that time comes.

Alpart's Managing Director Tim O'Odriscoll and Community Council Chairman Len Blake have been quoted by the Jamaica Information Service in describing how the council was given a more proactive role since the closure in March 2009 when it formed a business unit that secured descaling contracts with the company. The contract has resulted in at least 100 jobs for local residents. All this during a shutdown period.

Blake was able to point out that income earned has gone into community development projects around the plant, repairing and renovating schools, community centres and other institutions.

The company itself has also been conducting a parallel programme aimed at alleviating the effects of the temporary closure in the region, stimulating agricultural production through the provision of fertiliser, seeds and chicken rearing starter projects to some 2,700 small farmers.

The pièce de résistance for Alpart, however, must be it's newly introduced micro-enterprise support programme which has enabled grants and successful start-ups for some 21 businesses in the immediate vicinity of the plant and mines.

Outstanding contributor

The truth is that the industry, often pilloried by potshots taken by the media or by self-proclaimed public interests groups with intangible and immeasurable goals, has been an outstanding contributor to Jamaica's economic and social development, and has been sorely missed by thousands who have been destabilised by the loss of jobs, business, and education, agriculture, health, and community development projects.

Ewarton will be a start to what we hope will be a revival of this essential industry. Noranda Bauxite, Jamaica's most recent industry partner, has already developed major programmes in education, agriculture, cultural and community development programmes in its operating areas in St Ann.

Jamalco continues to maintain outstanding programmes in education, skills development, sports and, in particular, its basic schools outreach.

Establishing sustainable relationships with host communities is common sense and best practice. The bauxite-alumina industry has proven to be the epitome of such practice.

Comments may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com or lanceneita@hotmail.com