Jamalco’s effort to safeguard 1000 jobs due to fire impact lauded by Mining Minister

The Minister for Transport and Mining of Jamaica, Audley Shaw stated his gratification that despite the negative impacts of the previous year’s fire at Jamalco, the refinery has been able to safeguard the jobs of around 1,000 employees.

Audley Shaw while speaking to a local media said, “I am glad that, despite the fire, which has closed down the operations, we have still kept 1,000 workers on the job, doing maintenance, upgrading, and other types of work, which keeps them occupied. So I commended them for that and, of course, they are to reopen sometime in the summer.”

“Jamalco plant currently falls under the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, under whose portfolio is the Government-owned Clarendon Alumina Production (CAP) Limited, which shares a 45% to 55% ownership of the refinery with the Noble Group's General Alumina Jamaica LLC (GAJ)”, Shaw added.

On 16^th February the minister was convoyed by senior civil servants from the Ministry of Transport and Works on a tour of the refinery, which happens to be the main source of employment in the area.

Concurrently, the nation's 2022/23 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled in the House of Representatives recently has estimated a loss of some US$60 million for Jamalco this fiscal year. however, the figures also show an estimated net profit of US$4.45 million in 2021/22 and an unaudited loss of US$50 million for 2020/21.