World War II greatly increased the demand for aluminium across the world. During the 1940s exploration and development work was carried out in Jamaica, mainly by Alcan Aluminium Ltd., Reynolds Metals Company and Kaiser Bauxite Company. Jamaican bauxite was not used during the war, but these three North American companies came to Jamaica to survey, acquire reserve lands, and set up operations.
Reynolds began exporting bauxite from Ocho Rios in June 1952, and Kaiser followed a year later from Port Kaiser on the south coast. Alcan built the first alumina processing plant near its mines at Kirkvine, Manchester, and in early 1952 began shipping alumina from Port Esquivel. This was the beginning of the industry in Jamaica.
After the first shipment of bauxite from Jamaica in 1952, production increased rapidly, and by 1957 Jamaica had become the leading bauxite producer in the world, with a production capacity of nearly 5 million tonnes of bauxite per year, almost a quarter of all the bauxite mined in the world in that year. Alcan built a second refinery in Jamaica at Ewarton, St. Catherine, in 1959.
In 1961, a fourth company, Alcoa, began mining bauxite in the island. The production of alumina also increased, especially after the mid-1960s. By 1968, Alcan had brought the capacity of its two refineries to more than 1 million tonnes a year.
Details
- Designer: Victor Whitely
- Printer: Harrison & Sons Ltd.
- Process: Photogravure
- Paper:
- Watermark: Multiple J & Pineapple
- Perf: 13.5 x 14.5 (comb)
- Cylinders:
- 1A 1A 1A
- 1B 1B 1B
- Sheet: R6 x 10
- Quantity:
- Reprint:
- 29 June 1965
- 15 August 1967
Sheet Numbers
