Jerome Maxwell is back as head of Jamalco after two years overseeing operations in the Caribbean and Africa. - Contributed

Jerome Maxwell's appointment as managing director for Jamalco marks his return to a position he held two years ago, having left to take up a promotion as vice-president in charge of advance planning and infrastructure for Africa and the Caribbean within the Alcoa network.

This week, Alcoa refused comment on what his return means for Maxwell, whose operations now fall under the new global primary products - Latin America and the Caribbean division - requiring him to report to Sao Paolo, Brazil, home base of the division's president, Franklin Feder.

"The company does not comment publicly on internal staff structures or salary packages," said communications head, Brian Doy.

Maxwell departed Jamalco in 2005 on a high, reporting then that the company had shifted from the fifth to first quintile of Pittsburgh headquartered Alcoa's global system, in recognition of its productivity.

His return coincides with some upheavals at the refinery.

Its refinery manager Lascelles Spalding and technical manager Michael Simpson have exited, while Jamalco is now reportedly in need of a financial controller.

Additionally, the company is said to have faced three audits, internally and externally, within a short period, according to insiders.

Doy said, however, that frequent financial reviews are not unusual within the Alcoa network.

"Audits are a key aspect of Alcoa's governance structure, and are conducted throughout the company almost on a daily basis. They form part of the results from operations reported each quarter when Alcoa reports its overall results."

Jamalco is yet to fully recover from Hurricane Dean and is still running its Clarendon based alumina refinery at half its 1.425 million capacity. Its port at Rocky Point, which took the brunt of the storm damage in mid-August, was the hardest hit, curtailing the company's shipments.

"The restoration of Jamalco's port is proceeding and is on schedule to resume alumina shipments in November," said Doy. "We continue to operate the refinery at half capacity."

The company had turned to rival Windalco, which is substantially owned by the Rusal consortium, to ship produce from its St. Catherine based Port Esquivel.

Doy said that only a limited amount of alumina was moved through that port.

A limited amount of alumina has been exported from Windalco's port facility at Port Esquivel.

But even without a full team, Maxwell is expected to tackle, as his first priority, putting the refinery back on track.

"Maxwell is a Jamaican with vast experience and knowledge of the business. Over the past two years, he has been coordinating Alcoa's activities in Jamaica, the wider Caribbean and in Africa. He will now refocus his efforts on Jamaica, leading the restoration of the operations after Hurricane Dean, and establishing Jamalco as a values driven, world class location within Alcoa's new Latin America and Caribbean regional business."

business@gleanerjm.com