Century/Noranda Bauxite Port in Jamaica Damaged; No Interruption in Aluminum Production Expected.

MONTEREY, Calif. -- Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) and Noranda, Inc., reported today that there has been a failure of bauxite loading equipment at their jointly-owned St. Ann port facility in Discovery Bay, Jamaica. The failure is interrupting bauxite shipments from St. Ann, and St. Ann is evaluating the damage to determine the duration of the interruption.

Bauxite from this facility supplies the alumina refinery in Gramercy, LA, that is also jointly owned by Century and Noranda. It also supplies bauxite to the Sherwin refinery in Corpus Christie, Texas. The Gramercy refinery supplies alumina to Century's Hawesville (KY) reduction plant and Noranda's New Madrid (MO) reduction facility. The facility also supplies chemical grade alumina to other customers.

Neither Century nor Noranda anticipate any interruption in aluminum production as a result of the equipment failure at St. Ann.

Century owns 615,000 metric tons per year (mtpy) of primary aluminum capacity. The company owns and operates a 244,000-mtpy plant at Hawesville, KY, a 170,000-mtpy plant at Ravenswood, WV and a 90,000-mtpy plant at Grundartangi, Iceland. Century also owns a 49.67-percent interest in a 222,000-mtpy reduction plant at Mt. Holly, SC. Alcoa Inc. owns the remainder and is the operating partner. Century's corporate offices are located in Monterey, CA.