Manchester/St Elizabeth eager for resumption of bauxite mining

Just under four years since the closure of bauxite/alumina plants Alpart in south eastern St Elizabeth and Kirkvine in central Manchester, economic gloom hangs heavy with unemployment on the rise and savings of ex-bauxite workers already spent or fast running out.

There was a spark of hope late last month with word from Mining Minister Phillip Paulwell that he expected to name a date for the reopening of Alpart — the largest of Jamaica's alumina plants — by year-end.

When the Observer Central sought an update last Friday, Paulwell could not be reached for comment, but a ministry official said the timeline for the minister's announcement had been pushed back to mid-January.

Residents of bauxite mining areas in Manchester and St Elizabeth have seen such promises come to nothing over the past three years, and even while they hope for the best, won't be holding their breath.

However, Len Blake, a former member of parliament for SE St Elizabeth who heads the Alpart Community Council, says the need for resurgence in the bauxite sector is now dire.

While there has been talk of a reopening at Alpart in Nain, St Elizabeth, the Government has been mostly silent about the Windalco Kirkvine plant at Content, close to Williamsfield in Central Manchester. Kirkvine is also owned by the Russian aluminium giant UC Rusal and, like Alpart, was closed in early 2009.

Close to 1,000 people lost their jobs at Alpart and hundreds more at Kirkvine. The Windalco plant in Ewarton, St Catherine -- owned as well by UC Rusal — was also closed in 2009 but reopened the following year, triggering vain hope at the time of a quick recovery in the alumina sector.

The collapse of the bauxite sector in St Elizabeth and Manchester triggered a huge cut in foreign exchange earnings, fast-tracking Jamaica's return to the multilateral lender, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for a borrowing relationship.

The global financial crisis and concerns about the notoriously energy-inefficient Jamaican plants triggered the collapse in 2009. Government spokesmen now say the persisting global economic downturn and the high cost of energy remain tough hurdles as the Government continues to negotiate with UC Rusal.

When the Observer Central made a quick photo tour of communities surrounding the mothballed alumina plants in Manchester and St Elizabeth last week, there was a general sense of despair among ordinary people and small business operators.

Thomas claimed the economic downturn since the closure of Alpart had fuelled crime in the community. "We getting a lot of burglaries, break-ins," he said. As an outgrowth of the criminal activity, a neighbourhood watch was recently launched, he said.

Both men noted that some of their colleagues had turned to farming with disastrous consequences for many because of "over-production", an absence of markets, and drought.

However, one ex-Alpart worker in the Junction area who declined to be identified told the Observer Central that his decision to invest much of his redundancy package in farming had worked out well.