Jamalco

jamalco was started as a bauxite mining venture by alcoa in 1959 and exported its first shipment of bauxite in 1963. the venture began alumina production at a new refinery in halse hall, clarendon in 1972 with a production capacity of 500,000 metric tonnes per year (mtpy), which it exported from its port facility at rocky point. the completion of an upgrade in march 2007 lifted the production capacity of the refinery to 1,416,700 million metric tonnes per year. in 1988, the government of jamaica acquired a 50 percent share in the operations. the resulting joint venture was named jamalco, with alcoa as the managing partner. in december 2014, the noble group acquired alcoa’s 55 percent stake in jamalco, while clarendon alumina production limited (cap) retains its 45 percent ownership of the joint venture. what we do: jamalco mines bauxite and refines it into alumina before it is exported from its port at rocky point, clarendon. on average, 2.5 tonnes of bauxite produce one tonne of