Alpart

Article summary

Alumina Partners of Jamaica, also known as Alpart, is a company that owns and operates a bauxite refinery in Nain, Jamaica. Alpart was founded in 1969 as a joint venture by Kaiser Aluminum, Reynolds Aluminum, and Anaconda. Construction commenced in December 1966. the first buildings completed were for a Dunwoody industrial skills training center, which began teaching in November 1967. Plant operations began on 18 May 1969, (the first shipment was made 9 August 1969 ) and on 6 March 1970 the formal opening ceremony took place, attended by prime minister Hugh Shearer and then union leader and later prime minister Michael Manley. Around the beginning of the 1980s the Caribbean bauxite industry was in decline. High demand during the boom years of the 1950s and 1960s had caused an increase in exploration activity which resulted in major finds in Australia, Guinea and Brazil. In the 1970s business condition worsened as a result of shifts in government policy in Jamaica and Guyana. The global increase in oil prices were a further blow to the already relatively inefficient Caribbean alumina operations. The Aluminum sector at the time accounted for 40-50% of the entire energy consumption of the country, 90% of which was satisfied through imported oil and petroleum products.…

Key claims

1. date of foundation: 1969 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of foundation is "1969". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1378930256