Jamaican bauxite takes a Louisiana route to Ghana’s aluminium industry in proposed $60m deal

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Ghana is looking to Jamaica for a solution to one of the biggest gaps in its aluminium value chain: alumina supply. The two countries are negotiating a proposed USD 60 million arrangement that would see Jamaican bauxite processed at a refinery in Louisiana and the resulting alumina shipped to Ghana for aluminium production.

The plan could give Ghana an additional source of alumina as it works to develop an integrated aluminium industry, while giving Jamaica a renewed role in a bauxite-alumina relationship that dates back decades.

Jamaican bauxite could be processed in Louisiana

Under the proposed arrangement, bauxite from Jamaica would be shipped to the Atlantic Alumina Company (ATALCO) refinery in Gramercy, Louisiana, for processing into alumina. The alumina would then be exported to Ghana for use in its aluminium industry.

The discussions involve Jamaica’s state-owned Jamaica Bauxite Mining (JBM) and Ghana’s integrated aluminium development efforts.

Donna Marie Howe, Managing Director of Jamaica Bauxite Mining Limited (JBM), told JIS News that discussions are already under way and could soon move towards a formal agreement.

The talks began in March 2026, following a visit to Jamaica by representatives from Ghana’s state-owned bauxite sector to explore renewed cooperation.

“We started talking about how we can rejuvenate getting some more bauxite refined in our Louisiana plant in Gramercy, so it can be shipped to Ghana, so they can do the production of aluminium there,” Howe said.

The proposal has the backing of Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama, who recently completed a four-day state visit to Jamaica.

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Ghana already has a history of buying Jamaican alumina

The proposed arrangement would build on an established trade relationship between the two countries.

In 2024, Ghana imported about 26,250 tonnes of Jamaican alumina, valued at USD 11.1 million. During the same year, Egypt imported nearly 30,900 tonnes of Jamaican alumina worth USD 13.1 million, while Cameroon imported about 11,600 tonnes valued at USD 4.1 million.

The Ghana-Jamaica relationship stretches back even further. In July 2005, then Jamaican Prime Minister P. J. Patterson announced that Jamaica would assist Ghana in developing its own alumina refinery following talks with then Ghanaian President John Kufuor.

At the time, the Jamaican government said Ghana had already been consuming Jamaican alumina for about 30 years.

The latest discussions therefore revive an earlier effort to strengthen cooperation between the two countries across the bauxite and alumina value chain.

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