Balford Henry, Senior Reporter
KAISER HAS modified its newly-reopened Gramercy Plant in Louisiana to accommodate the processing of monohydrate bauxite which is abundant in Jamaica.
According to National Workers Union (NWU) vice-president, Norman DaCosta, who visited the plant last weekend with a team of Jamaican trade unionists, there is now a double digestion system, which will allow it to refine local monohydrate bauxite. Previously, Gramercy had concentrated on trihydrate (sweet) which is less costly to process.
"This will definitely mean more revenue and more employment for the Jamaican bauxite sector," Mr. DaCosta said.
He said that, in addition, Gramercy had been able to reduce its cost of production per tonne by some US$42 dollars, from the pre-explosion cost of approximately US$190 per tonne, which was considered one of the highest.
In his 2000/2001 Budget speech, Minister of Mining and Energy, Bobby Pickersgill, had announced Kaiser's decision to make efforts to reduce costs and introduce the double digestion system, to accommodate the processing of Jamaican monohydrate on the plant's reopening. The plant has been partially reopened since late 2000, after being devastated by a blast in July, 1999.
Kaiser Jamaica Bauxite Company (KJBC), Jamaica's only exporter of crude bauxite is also the sole supplier to Gramercy, which handles about two-thirds of its production, annually. The latest developments are expected to double its 2000 export figures.
Mr. Dacosta and UAWU vice-president, Lambert Brown, spent three days in Louisiana last weekend, speaking to workers and officers of Kaiser's Gramercy plant about the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) currently operating in the local industry.
"They are planning on coming to Jamaica soon to actually see the MOU in operation, because they want to replicate it at Gramercy," Mr. DaCosta said. He said that the team would include representatives of United Steel Workers (USW), the US union which represents Gramercy's unionised staff.
In the meantime, The Gleaner also understands that Alcan is expected to hand over ownership of its Jamaican operations to Swiss trading giant Glencore International at the end of this month.
Although Glencore has not yet announced who will manage the operations, speculation in the industry is that Alpart, partly owned by Kaiser, is being seriously considered, confirming earlier predictions that a locally-based bauxite/alumina operation would manage the company.
It is expected that the company will go through with a rationalisation process affecting a number of jobs at both the Kirkvine and Ewarton plants, but the National Workers Union (NWU) has asked for discussions to explore how job losses can be kept to a minimum.
