GOV’T QUERIES WINDALCO SALE

THE Government says it has received no notice that UC Rusal plans to sell Windalco and is seeking answers from the Russian company’s parent after a report that it has begun looking for buyers. Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Mining Floyd Green told the Jamaica Observer that checks with Rusal’s local team had produced no information about a possible sale. “Government has no record or notification any such plans and checks with the local UC Rusal team have indicated that they have no information or correspondence on that matter. We will be reaching out to the parent company regarding the unsubstantiated reports,” Green said. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Rusal had begun sounding out potential buyers for Windalco in Jamaica and its bauxite operation in Guyana. It cited people familiar with the matter, but said the plans were at an early stage and a sale might not happen. Rusal declined to comment to Bloomberg.

Windalco’s Kirkvine refinery which has been mothballed since 2009.

The report has surfaced at a difficult time for Jamaica’s bauxite and alumina trade. New figures from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica show that mining and quarrying export earnings fell 46.4 per cent to US$179.7 million in the first five months of 2026, down from US$335.3 million a year earlier. Alumina accounted for most of that fall. Export earnings in the industry dropped 47.9 per cent to US$149.8 million, while bauxite earnings fell 44.3 per cent to US$22.9 million. Those figures cover the industry as a whole rather than Windalco’s sales. They do, however, show why any question about the future of a major alumina producer will draw attention from workers, suppliers, and the communities around its operations. Meanwhile, Green pointed to Windalco’s recent spending as evidence that work on the ground is continuing. “Windalco just completed a major haul road investment and are mining a new area,” he told the Business Week. The haul road in St Ann cost about US$29 million and opened access to more high-quality ore, Green told Parliament in May. The investment does not settle whether Rusal might consider selling the business, but it raises an obvious question about what its parent company intends to do with the Jamaican assets. Windalco is Rusal’s remaining alumina business in Jamaica after the Russian company sold Alpart in 2016. It owns the operating Ewarton alumina refinery in St Catherine, bauxite mines, and the Port Esquivel shipping facility; its Kirkvine refinery has been mothballed since 2009. Rusal acquired the Government’s last stake in Windalco in 2014, making it the sole owner. — Karena Bennet