Jisco sets $490 million first phase to reopen Alpart refinery in St Elizabeth

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Mining Floyd Green has confirmed a two-phase plan to reopen and modernise the Alpart alumina refinery in Nain, St Elizabeth, following high-level talks in China with Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (Jisco) and officials from Gansu Province.

For decades, Alpart has anchored Jamaica's mining sector and supported economic activity across western Jamaica, sustaining workers, contractors, transport operators, small businesses, and families in surrounding communities.

The Nain facility, commissioned in 1969, was acquired by Jisco in 2017 after years of closure in the 2000s. Operations resumed following an investment of roughly US$360 million and employment for about 1,000 people, but were suspended in 2019 and have not restarted since.

Over the past five years, Jisco has completed a feasibility review, assessing the existing plant, required investment, modern technologies, and practices used in other countries. Jisco is a state-owned enterprise controlled by Gansu Province, giving the provincial government a central role in major investment and strategic decisions.

The redevelopment plan aims to restore annual production to roughly two million tonnes of alumina in two stages. Phase one targets one million tonnes per year through an investment of approximately US$490 million, spanning about 20 months with an official launch targeted before June 2027. That phase would modernise core operational systems, upgrade plant infrastructure, redevelop power generation, introduce dry stacking for residue management, and rehabilitate linked rail and port facilities. It would also include advanced technologies and a five-megawatt photovoltaic and energy storage hybrid system, positioning Alpart as a low-carbon demonstration project.

Phase two would add a further one million tonnes of annual capacity. Securing adequate bauxite reserves was a key part of the discussions. Jisco has linked roughly 149 million tonnes of reserves to lands it is pursuing to support long-term refinery operations.

Green said the location of those reserves would not interfere with protections for Jamaica's largest wet limestone forest. "There is no contemplation of any bauxite mining in the Cockpit Country or close to the Cockpit Country at all," he said. No new lands have yet been allocated to Alpart; areas under review lie near existing operations, though some fall within mining leases that would require further process. Green acknowledged that other firms could become interested if Jisco fails to meet its commitments, though he said it remained unclear how actively others might pursue leases already in use across the sector.