The Government has received no notice that UC Rusal intends to sell Windalco and will seek answers from the Russian aluminium producer’s parent company, Mining Minister Floyd Green said, after a report that Rusal is looking for buyers for its Jamaican and Guyanese assets.

Green made it known that the Government had no record of any such plan, and that checks with Rusal’s local team turned up no information or correspondence on the matter. He called the reports “unsubstantiated” and said the Government would contact the parent company directly.

Bloomberg reported on September 22 that Rusal had started sounding out potential buyers for Windalco and its bauxite business in Guyana. Citing people familiar with the matter, the news agency said the process was at an early stage and a deal may not materialise. Rusal declined to comment. 

Green pointed to recent spending as a sign that Windalco’s operations are continuing. The company has completed a haul road in St Ann costing about US$29 million, which the minister told Parliament in May would open access to higher-quality ore, and has begun mining a new area.

Windalco runs the Ewarton alumina refinery in St Catherine, bauxite mines, and the Port Esquivel shipping terminal. Its Kirkvine refinery has been idle since 2009. Rusal became sole owner in 2014, when the Government sold its remaining 7% stake.

Rusal’s 2025 annual report, puts Windalco’s output last year at 396,000 tonnes of alumina and 1.565 million tonnes of bauxite. The alumina figure equals about 28 per cent of Jamaica’s 2025 alumina export volume of 1.42 million tonnes. Within Rusal, the operation is minor, accounting for under 6 per cent of group alumina production.

The report arrives as the sector’s earnings contract sharply. Statistical Institute of Jamaica data show mining and quarrying export earnings fell 46.4 per cent to US$179.7 million in January to May 2026, from US$335.3 million a year earlier, with alumina driving most of the decline. Hurricane Melissa, which struck in October 2025, hit production across the industry, and repairs are continuing at both Windalco and Jamalco.

Windalco also supports contractors, suppliers and employment in St Catherine and neighbouring parishes, and contributes royalty revenue to the Government. 

In Guyana, Rusal owns 90 per cent of the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc., with the Guyanese Government holding 10 per cent. That operation has been mothballed since February 2020, following a labour dispute.

Rusal is not under sanctions but has reorganised how it sources raw materials since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, buying alumina stakes in China and India and relying more on Guinea. Its 2026 half-year report named Jamaica among markets where political and economic changes have affected its operations.

The Government has not said when it expects a reply from Rusal’s parent company.