Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Franklin Witter, says following recent talks between Minister Floyd Green, a team from Alpart and himself, they are hopeful that bauxite production will resume at the plant in the near future.

“We look forward to a new proposal being forwarded to us, so that we can engage the company, so we will be able to initiate the reopening of Alpart,” Witter said.

He was delivering the keynote address at the National Minerals Week Mining/Minerals Conference, at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in Mandeville, on May 6.

It was held under the theme ‘Benefits of Minerals Development Activities to Host Communities’.

The State Minister also revealed that owners of the Kirkvine facility, in Manchester – UC Rusal – have indicated that it might reopen after being closed for some 15 years, adding that important elements of the plant are in an advanced state of disrepair.

“However, there are significant assets associated with the plant that can generate huge benefits to the people of Manchester. We are looking at some of the facilities, like the wells at Porus, storage tanks and other buildings at the plant, to see how best we can repurpose them and have them used to support other commercial activities in Manchester,” Witter said.

He also noted that there is ongoing dialogue with private-sector interests to see whether other areas of the plant can be repurposed.

The State Minister gave the assurance that bauxite mining would remain a part of the parish’s economy and the assets in the sector would be utilised to improve the citizens’ well-being.

This includes improved access to potable water and provision of land titles for parcels of land on which people were resettled by bauxite mining companies.

“The issuing of land titles has been moving very slowly, but we are prepared and we have started the process of making sure that titles will be delivered timely to the citizens. We don’t believe that someone should wait 10 years for a title. That stifles economic activity, so we are prepared to ensure that, going forward, the delivery improves,” he said.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Manchester North Western, Mikael Phillips, said the minerals sector is very important to the country’s economy. “Today’s focus on the minerals sector is extremely important, as it badly needs a reset,” Mr. Phillips said, adding that the sector was once a pillar of the Jamaican economy.

– JIS News