MOSCOW, April 1 (Reuters) - The world's top aluminium producer Russia's UC RUSAL said on Thursday it had not abandoned plans to restart its two refineries of alumina in Jamaica, mothballed because of the economic crisis.
On Wednesday, labour leaders at the West Indies Alumina Co. (Windalco), whose majority shareholder is RUSAL, said the aluminium giant had laid off its remaining workers ahead of the closure of the two plants.
But RUSAL said on Thursday there had been no change in its original plans regarding its Jamaican assets, including Windalco.
"RUSAL is committed to continue its operations in Jamaica as soon as market conditions allow,” the company said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.
"Following the requests of Windalco's staff the company has changed the employment scheme for the suspended plants. From now on only the take care team will be employed during the suspension period to make sure the facilities are kept in order.”
RUSAL suspended production at Windalco in April 2009 as a cost-cutting measure intending to keep it mothballed for at least 12 months.
Windalco produced 1.16 million tonnes of alumina, an intermediate product for aluminium smelting, in 2008.
(Reporting by Aleksandras Budrys; Editing by Lidia Kelly)
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