Clinton Thomson foresees a brighter future for Bauxite in Jamaica

Clinton Thompson, the Commissioner of the Mines & Geology Division, is confident that the bauxite industry has a brighter future ahead.

"Closure does not mean death and if you listen to the Bank of Jamaica reports, even with the downturn, it (mining and energy) is still one of the star performers in contributing to the country's economy. It is just that we would want to get back to the glory days which are a work in progress as we speak," Thompson told The Gleaner last week.

The Russian-owned Kirkvine & Alpart bauxite plants were closed with the global recession in place. Since then the Government has been constantly in negotiations with the plant owners for the the resumption of operations.

UC Rusal, the owner, said about their investing of US$100 million for their plant at Ewarton in a coal-fired electricity generating system. UC Rusal had to stop operations in Ewaryon, Alpart and Kirkvine in the year 2009.

Thompson said based on developments, he is "optimistic and confident that the best is yet to come" for the sector.

"The world demand has been down for aluminium, plus the high cost of energy is also a factor. It is something we have to get right because certainly when we have cheaper energy our products become more competitive," Thompson said.

He said critical groundwork as well as research has been taking place and sought to reassure persons that all is not lost. "Things have not stopped, for example ALPART (Alumina Partners of Jamaica) still has its workforce in place, the research continues and the work continues. We have training taking place in terms of how we can improve the services and production. We can't predict what will happen and when, however we are doing what we have to do," he said.