Mining and Telecommunications Minister Derrick Smith told The Gleaner on the weekend that the cost of energy has been a serious setback to output in the industry as power alone accounted for 50 per cent of production.

"Fortunately, we have a little respite where oil is concerned right now, but we are not sure that will last," he said.

Smith said alternative sources of energy were being explored to diversify the resources available to the sector.

"Whenever the production resumes, as it surely will some time in the future, we have to cut production costs," the minister added.

Smith said a technical team has already ventured abroad, seeking support for use of alternative resources in the sector in the event a worst-case scenario emerges.

He added that local companies wanting to get involved at the equity level were also being tapped.

The bauxite sector, Jamaica's second-most important industry, has been crumbling under the pressure of the global economic turmoil.

The price of aluminium has dropped more than 66 per cent since July last year as the global construction industry has gone into decline.

Two major bauxite companies have been forced to close temporarily as a result, Aluminium Partners (Alpart) and the West Indies Aluminium Company Limited (Windalco) - putting hundreds of permanent employees out of work.