<article><p>Jamaica's second biggest bauxite refinery has been shut down indefinitely because of a major fire that occurred over the weekend.</p><p>The fire caused an explosion in the powerhouse of the 1.4mn t/yr Jamalco plant in southern Jamaica that is powered by natural gas from imported LNG.</p><p>The plant refines bauxite ore into alumina, which is then smelted to produce aluminium.</p><p>LME cash official aluminum prices closed today at $2,647.50/t, just shy of a 10-year high settlement of $2,648.50/t reached yesterday. A global recovery from the first wave of Covid-19-related lockdowns has driven a metals reflation narrative since the beginning of the year. </p><p>Jamalco is owned 55pc by Hong Kong-based raw materials supplier Noble Group's subsidiary General Alumina Jamaica and 45pc by Jamaican state-owned Clarendon Alumina Production.</p><p>The powerhouse, which supplies all the power to the facility, is "significantly damaged" Jamalco said. "Everything is going to be shut down and it will be a while before operations are back up," it said.</p><p>The powerhouse produces power, compressed air, and steam for the refining operations, Noble Group said.</p><p>"A full assessment of the damage will be done in the coming days to determine the cause of the fire." </p><p>The gas-fired Jamalco 150MW power plant was commissioned in March 2020 and also supplies power to the island's grid operator JPS.</p><p>The plant is supplied from US LNG company New Fortress' terminal on the southern coast that is receiving 200,000 t/yr of US LNG.</p><p>The shutdown of the Jamalco plant is the second setback to the island's bauxite refining. Chinese state-owned iron and steel producer Jisco has not yet reopened its 1.6mn t/yr facility that it closed in September 2019 for upgrading and expansion.</p></article>
