According to the industry sources, negotiations are ongoing for purchase of Alpart alumina plant at Nain, St Elizabeth by leading Chinese metals company, Jiuquan Iron and Steel (Group) Company (JISCO) from Russian owners UC Rusal.
The price of the 46-years old Alpart plant, established in 1969 is said to be the point of disagreement between JISCO and UC Rusal.
Listed as the biggest carbon and stainless steel producer in North West China, JISCO, which boasts of making products which "clang" is said to be among the top 100 companies in China - a country of 1.35 billion people and consistently described as the world's fastest-growing economy.
Negotiations for sale of Alpart have taken place at the highest level, sources said. JISCO is placing on the table a "massive development plan" that would involve not just reopening and expansion of the alumina plant, but eventual development over a five-year period of an aluminium smelter, powered by an independent energy plant.
Sources say that the JISCO plan proposes an industrial complex at Nain which would allow for the manufacturing of inputs. The plan would entail widespread mining of bauxite reserves in the Santa Cruz Mountains extending to Malvern and beyond and also of the Manchester Plateau.
Alpart, Jamaica's largest alumina refinery, at Nain in South East St Elizabeth, Southern Manchester, was shut down in May 2009 at the height of a global economic crisis which caused metal prices to plummet even as oil prices soared. At the national level, the closure of Alpart and a near-collapse of the total bauxite-alumina sector triggered massive economic dislocation.
In January, Alpart resumed bauxite mining operations in areas relatively close to the plant. And in September the plant began exporting bauxite as part of the build-up to next year's reopening. A third shipment is scheduled for this week.
Under the Chinese plan, alumina capacity at Alpart would be rapidly doubled to in excess of 3,000 (metric) tonnes.
