Production to increase at St Ann Bauxite

The Government has announced that production is to be increased by as much as 25 per cent at the St Ann Bauxite Company. The increase will take effect over the next three months. As a result, the 580 workers employed to the company will now return to full time employment. They were forced to work three days less per month because of the downturn in the industry. General manager, Pansy Johnson, told says workers will revert to the full 40-hour work schedule. However, she explained, the 150 workers who were laid off by the company earlier this year will not be recalled. The development also means that the company’s maintenance programme, which was on hold, will be accelerated to meet the new demands. In the meantime, Noranda Aluminium is the new minority shareholders in the company. The Government remains the majority shareholder with 51 per cent. The 49 per cent minority holders Noranda will be the managing partners under the agreement with the Government. The change in the minority holder is the result of the takeover of Century Aluminium by Noranda. The president of St Ann Bauxite, Larry Holley says the company will be shipping 110 loads of ore from the Discovery Bay port over the next 12 months. This will increase the export figure to 4.2 million tonnes a year up from the projected 3.1 million tonnes. However, the mining minister James Robertson wants the company to further ramp up production to 4.5 million tonnes.