Bauxite in Jamaica

Question 1

What is Bauxite?

Answer 1

Bauxite is the raw material from which aluminum is made.It is a hard, clay-like rock ranging in colour from white to deep brown or red.

Question 2

Where does bauxite come from?

Answer 2

Brazil, Australia, and Jamaica

Question 3

What is the total bauxite output in the Caribbean?

Answer 3

Jamaica - 50% Suriname - 25%
Guyana - 18% Haiti - 4%
Dominican Republic- 4%

Question 4

When did the mining of bauxite in Jamaican begin?

Answer 4

1940s

Question 5

What is bauxite processed into?

Answer 5

alumina which is a white, flaky, crystalline substance

Question 6

How is it processed?

Answer 6

The bauxite is excavated via open-pit mining, it is transported to the smelting plant via trucks, rail and aerial buckets on cables where its processed.

Question 7

How much bauxite makes up 1 tonne of alumina?

Answer 7

6 tonnes of bauxite

Question 8

Where does the conversion of alumina into aluminium take place?

Answer 8

It requires a lot of energy and so occurs in countries where cheap power is abundant, usually hydroelectric, and the appropriate technological skills are available.

Question 9

Where does Jamaican export bauxite to?

Answer 9

USA (who they export to the most), Canada, the UK, Norway, Sweden, China, Germany and France

Question 10

Where are the bauxite plants located?

Answer 10

Discovery Bay and Lyford

Question 11

Where are the alumina plants located?

Answer 11

Ewarton, Kirkvine, Halse Hall and Nain

Question 12

State where bauxite and alumina is exported and the locations.

Answer 12

via ports located at Port Rhodes, Ocho Rios, Port Kaiser, Port Esquivel and Rocky Point

Question 13

How close are bauxite ports to bauxite plants?

Answer 13

50km

Question 14

What are the benefits of Bauxite in Jamaica?

Answer 14

Foreign exchange, GDP, Employment

Question 15

Explain foreign exchange.

Answer 15

In 2016, Jamaica earned US$143.8 million from bauxite exports

Question 16

GDP(Gross Domestic Product)

Answer 16

Bauxite accounts for less than 5% of Jamaica’s GDP

Question 17

Employment

Answer 17

There are approximately 4000 people employed in Jamaica’s bauxite industry which is about 1% of the country’s labour force

Question 18

What are the challenges facing the Bauxite industry?

Answer 18

Reduced demand for alumina, substitutes for aluminum, competition from other bauxite/alumina producers, environmental pollution problems

Question 19

Why is there is a reduce in demand for alumina?

Answer 19

there has been an increase in the recycling of aluminium scrap metal – this saves almost 95% of smelting costs and now supplies 20% of US consumption

Question 20

What are substitutes for aluminium?

Answer 20

plastic, wood, other metals such as titanium, steel and copper

Question 21

Who is Jamaica’s bauxite competition?

Answer 21

Australia, China, Brazil and Indi

Question 22

What are some pollution problems?

Answer 22

Gaseous emissions like sulphur oxides, soot, aerosols, fumes from smelting plants, and nitrogen oxides.

dust, red mud, noise, displacement of people

Question 23

What are some strategies to reduce environmental pollution?

Answer 23

mechanical devices, shelterbeds, mud-stacking, quiet cable conveyor systems, and mined-out land be restored to as near a natural state