BY KARENA BENNETT Business reporter bennettk@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, January 18, 2015
BAUXITE mining and alumina refinery, Jamalco is pumping $80 million into the sub-division development of 291 residential lots at its reclaimed site in Blenheim, Manchester.
The sub-division, which commenced last September, forms part of Jamalco’s resettlement land development strategy, which includes providing alternate living arrangements for persons who were displaced during the bauxite/alumina company’s acquisition of the land to conduct mining operations.
The project is currently at an advanced stage with infrastructure development being carried out on roads, drainage, provision for water distribution and electricity as well as the creation of a green space for community residents.
Industry protocol requires mining companies like Jamalco, to exercise several relocation options including temporary housing rental, cash payment, or the development of sub-divisions on reclaimed land or the acquisition of land where applicable.
“We are simply fulfilling routine obligations that we have to our host communities in keeping with the standards of our industry,” manager of corporate services and government affairs at Jamalco, Leofric Lambert told the Jamaica Observer in an emailed response.
“Phase 1A is currently under construction. Several houses have already been built in the area so our focus at this time is therefore on improving the social infrastructure. The provision of electricity by the JPSCo is all that is outstanding to complete the exercise,” he added.
The development project is spread across 827,006 square metres of land; with 71 lots under construction in phase one, 69 assigned as residential lots and two for drainage.
“Some persons have been allocated more than one lot depending on how much of their land was acquired for mining,” Lambert told the Sunday Finance.
No timeline has been set for work to commence on the remaining two phases. Jamalco is eyeing potential partnerships with private housing development companies to complete the project, Lambert said.
The Clarendon-based plant mines an average of 1.4 million tonnes of alumina per year.
Last year, Hong-Kong based global commodities company, Noble Resources, finalised a deal to buy out Alcoa’s stake in the Jamalco’s alumina refinery for US$140 million ($15.9 billion). The deal gives Noble a 55 per cent stake in the Jamaican alumina refinery and allows the company to access a further 780,000 tonnes of annual alumina from the Jamaican plant.
Prior to the acquisition, Noble already secured up to 6.1 million tonnes of alumina from Jamalco’s output over a 12-year period through a US$120-million forward sale contract with Clarendon Alumina Production (CAP), a company wholly owned by the government, which owns the remaining 45 per cent.
Alcoa will however continue to manage the operations of Jamalco over the next two years.
Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Phillip Paulwell, reportedly described the new partnership as providing tremendous prospects for the future. He said that as one of the largest global supply chains companies in the world, Noble’s decision to invest in Jamaica was an encouraging indicator for the industry and the country as a whole.
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Jamalco pumps $80 million into Manchester relocation exercise
