More bauxite layoffs in Jamaica

(Jamaica Observer) Aluminum Holding Corporation (NAHC) announced on Wednesday several cost-cutting actions, including laying off of 25 per cent of its work force at its refinery in the United States.

Through Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, it has also notified the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) of ‘force majeure’ events that will require Noranda Bauxite to materially reduce previous mining plans.

In a release posted on the NAHC website, Noranda Bauxite indicated that the filing of a case under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code by a significant bauxite customer, Sherwin Alumina Company LLC, may result in additional material reductions to Noranda Bauxite’s mining plans.

The release said the company has initiated workforce reduction involving approximately 190 employees, approximately 90 per cent of which involve employees in the company’s integrated upstream business.

But potentially more might be in the works, NACH noted. Noranda Aluminum, Inc, another subsidiary, notified employees of the New Madrid smelter that, in addition to the workforce reductions, approximately 350 employees will be terminated or laid off by February 4, 2016 following an electrical incident at the New Madrid plant.

Further, smelter employees were also notified that the site’s remaining operations will be curtailed on or before March 12, 2016, “unless the company is able to secure a substantially more sustainable power rate for the smelter and materially improve the company’s overall liquidity”.