St Ann Bauxite, Gramercy Alumina see US$19-m revenue in Sep quarter

St Ann Bauxite in Jamaica and Gramercy Alumina in the US collectively earned US$19 million (J$1.6 billion) in revenues for the September quarter for its US-based parent company Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation. It is the first quarter since Noranda fully acquired both operations from Century Aluminum Company. "Third quarter 2009 upstream revenues also included approximately $19 million from Gramercy and St Ann external shipments of alumina and bauxite in September," confirmed the company in its October 27 released financials. For the third quarter of 2009, Noranda "expects to report net income in the range of US$1 million to US$8 million, compared to a net loss of $12.1 million in second quarter of 2009 and $22.4 million in third quarter 2008" the company stated on the preliminary financials. On August 31, Noranda completed the full acquisition of St Ann and Gramercy operations from Century. The company said the acquisition would allow it to "vertically integrate" its operations by securing alumina for its aluminium operations. Noranda and Century had a 50/50 joint venture in St Ann and Gramercy. Century and Noranda will, however, enter into an agreement under which Century will purchase alumina from Gramercy in 2009 and 2010. Noranda's 50 per cent stake in the joint venture earned it US$15.1 million in EBITDA over the 12 months ending in June. Noranda however wrote off US$80.3 million in impairment which related to "its equity-method investment" in St Ann and Gramercy. Century and Noranda jointly acquired Gramercy and St Ann from Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation in 2004. Gramercy operates a 1.2 million metric tonne-per-year annual capacity alumina refinery located in Louisiana and St Ann owns and operates a 4.8 million-tonne-per-year annual capacity bauxite-mining operation in Jamaica. As a result of the economic crisis, Gramercy and St Ann have been producing at approximately 50 per cent and 40 per cent of their rated capacities since early 2009.