Govt of Jamaica to meet JISCO officials following the sale of Alpart bauxite plant

The Government of Jamaica is all set to meet with the officials of the Jiuquan Iron & Steel (JISCO) in September this year. This will be the first meeting since the Chinese firm bought bauxite company Alpart Jamaica from UC RUSAL, last month, at a total price of US$300 million.

According to a statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister "the meeting is to re-affirm Jamaican government’s commitment to a transparent and rigorous process of balancing our economic growth aspirations, our environmental imperatives and our international obligations."

“The Government is preparing to receive and consider the definitive plans regarding the development of Alpart,” the release stated.

The government is coordinating across all ministries concerned and agencies in preparation for these discussions. Quite naturally, this kind of investments must be done in full consultation in order to ensure structured implementation of a merger on a sustainable basis, the release stated.

The release also noted that this transaction holds great potential for the development, revival and expansion of the mining sector of the country and other related value-added industries including aluminium, limestone and cement.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has arranged a series of consultative meetings with representatives of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute, the National Environment Planning Agency and the Planning Institute of Jamaica to discuss the possible course of action that can be laid out to effectuate this transaction.

Operations at Alpart, one of Jamaica’s largest bauxite plants, have been significantly scaled down since 2009. On July 19, RUSAL finalised a private commercial transaction with JISCo to sell off the operations of the bauxite complex.

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