KINGSTON, Jamaica — The government yesterday began talks with corporate representatives of the Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners which could possibly lead to an agreement to save the jobs of just over 400 employees at the company’s St Ann operation.

OBSERVER ONLINE confirmed last night that the Noranda corporate executives were meeting with Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, and Minister of State in that Ministry, Fayval Williams to discuss a solution to the issues which have led to job losses and uncertainty over the future of the company’s continued operation in Discovery Bay, St Ann.

Shaw told the House of Representatives Tuesday that Noranda had appealed to the government, and that a decision was taken to discuss their proposals.

However, the Opposition has continued its objection to  any decision by the government to reach a compromise with Noranda which would affect their payment of the bauxite levy.

On Tuesday, during debate on the second supplementary estimates in the House, Opposition spokesman on finance and planning, Dr Peter Phillips, warned the government to approach the matter “very, very carefully”.

“I am against a negotiation which, by sleight of hand would take away the earnings properly due to the country and provide it for a company which has already claimed bankruptcy, and whose survival is by no means certain and where we might be foregoing rights and revenues which other companies may be willing to pay while preserving job,” Dr Phillips said.

He also cautioned the government that any agreement with Noranda is going to set a basis for which other companies are going to claim similar benefits.

Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation (NAHC) announced in February that the company and all of its wholly-owned direct and indirect subsidiaries had filed voluntary petitions for a court-supervised restructuring process under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

NACH is parent company of the St Ann, Jamaica -based Noranda Bauxite Limited, which recently was affected by changes to mining targets and workforce reduction, conditions reflective of a company-wide retrenchment which started in January.

Balford Henry