Hurricane Ivan, a category 5 storm, is set to strike with a vengeance tomorrow and Jamaica is getting prepared.
The four largest bauxite and alumina producers (Alpart, Jamaico, Windalco and Kaiser Jamaica Bauxite) are shutting down today before the storm hits.
Total combined annual production capacity at these facilities is about 3.9 million tonnes of alumina and 14 million tonnes of bauxite.
The alumina plants have to be shut down sequentially so that the system is drained of alumina to ensure a clean startup. In Jamaica, the bauxite and alumina industries employ about 5,000 people.
Oil ports and refineries in Venezuela and other parts of the Caribbean have been closed as the storm passed through.
A category 5 hurricane is the most intense storm on the hurricane scale. This category indicates that wind speed is greater than 248 kilometres per hour, the barometric pressure is less than 920 microbars and the storm surge is greater than 5.5 metres. Storm surge is water that is pushed toward the shore by the force of the winds swirling around the storm. In addition, storm winds superimpose on the storm tide resulting in even higher water levels.
Kaiser Jamaica Bauxite is 51% owned by the Jamaican government and 49% by Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical (KLUCQ-O). Subsidiaries of Century Aluminum (CENX-O) and Noranda (NRD-T) agreed earlier this summer to buy Kaiser Aluminum’s stake in the St. Ann bauxite mine and the Gramercy aluminum refinery in Louisiana, U.S.A.
Jamaico is a 50-50 joint venture between Alcoa (AA-N) and the Jamaican government.
Ivan is packing winds up to 260 kilometres per hour. At least 20 people are dead on the island of Grenada in the wake of Ivan.
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