OREANDA-NEWS. July 27, 2010. UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486, EuroNext: RUSAL/RUAL), the world's largest aluminium producer, announces the restart of operations at its Ewarton Works in Jamaica.  The refinery is part of Windalco, which was mothballed in 2009 due to the global economic downturn. The total capacity of the Ewarton refinery is about 650,000 tonnes of alumina per year.  RUSAL plans to produce about 321,000 tonnes of alumina from the refinery by the end of this year. 

As part of its Cost Efficiency Leader programme, RUSAL has taken action to ensure that Ewarton's operations restart with an enhanced structure and production process, considerably lower cash operating costs and improved efficiency. The cost of bauxite mining has been reduced twice and RUSAL has also decreased Ewarton's maintenance costs.   

The positive trends in the global aluminium market, alongside agreements with the Jamaican Government and the plant's contractors, were important factors which have helped to improve Ewarton's operational cost efficiency, thereby enabling RUSAL to restart the refinery.

Yakov Itskov, Deputy CEO of the International Alumina Business, said:

"We are pleased to restart RUSAL's Jamaican operations. They are an important part of the bauxite and alumina industry which plays a fundamental economic and social role in the country. RUSAL is committed to continuing and developing its operations in Jamaica. This restart at Ewarton has been made possible because of the strong and constructive support of the Jamaican government, our contractors, and our employees who worked hard to make the plant economically viable."