Mark Wil­son

A week ago, Al­coa said it will pull out of Ja­maica. Plans for a Trinidad smelter are dead and buried. Al­coa's Tem­blado­ra trans­ship­ment plant in Care­nage has gath­ered dust for four years. Guyana? That's an­cient his­to­ry. And Al­coa threat­ened last month to pull out of Suri­name.That is not good news for the pres­i­dent, De­si Bouterse. There's an elec­tion due next May.When in­de­pen­dence-era politi­cians faced off the multi­na­tion­als, Al­coa played a star­ring role.

Now Al­coa is in the de­par­ture lounge, board­ing pass in hand.In the 1960s, the Caribbean pro­duced al­most half the world's baux­ite, or alu­mini­um ore; to­day, just six per cent. Back then, baux­ite ri­valled T&T's oil as an eco­nom­ic force. Not again.Re­source rich­es can turn to red dust if plan­ning for the fu­ture goes astray.The world has plen­ty baux­ite. Prices are adrift. Caribbean costs are high, and re­serves dwin­dling. Pro­duc­ers have lost ground to Aus­tralia, Chi­na and Brazil.

Al­coa start­ed ship­ping baux­ite from Ja­maica in 1963. It has a 55 per cent stake in the Ja­mal­co re­fin­ery, which pro­duces alu­mi­na, the pure alu­mini­um ox­ide which is shipped over­seas to make alu­mini­um in en­er­gy-in­ten­sive smelters. Just like the one we didn't build at Point Fortin.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/dig­i­tal/new-mem­bers