Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. said Friday its Jamaican bauxite operation will be producing at full capacity at the end of the year, despite reiterating as recently as last month that output would be no more than 75 to 80 percent of capacity through 2009.

The Franklin, Tenn.-based company said the decision to increase output at the operation, recently renamed Noranda Bauxite Ltd., was fueled by heightened alumina demand, including that generated by a multiyear contract it reached in October to sell 25 percent of its Gramercy Alumina LLC refining capacity to a third party.

"Based on our ramp-up plans for the...