Russia, China revise aluminum projects in Guyana
Posted: 24 January 2009 1047 hrs

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GEORGETOWN : Aluminum producers RUSAL of Russia and Bosai Minerals of China have delayed or changed their multi-million dollar investment plans in Guyana, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said Friday.

Among the world's top producers of aluminum and alumina, United Company RUSAL and China's state-run Bosai Minerals Group Co. have revised their plans in light of a global drop in prices and demand for metallurgical and non-metallurgical bauxite, Hinds told reporters.

Aluminum prices are forecast to remain under "great pressure" in 2009, he added.

The premier said RUSAL's year-old plan to revive a hydro-electric plant deep in Guyana's jungle and to build a smelter and an alumina plant "are clearly on hold." The three projects were to begin construction in 2011, he added.

Formed 10 months ago by the merger of three companies making it the world's top aluminum producer, RUSAL last month laid off at least 200 workers at its bauxite concerns in Guyana and Jamaica as part of a cost-cutting measure.

Hinds also announced that Bosai had amended its plans, announced two months ago, to build a one-billion-dollar alumina smelter in Guyana to produce one million tons annually.

"They may construct it in two stages rather than one-off," Hinds said. "I am hoping that their studies will still prove attractive in the circumstance to proceed with that development."

Guyana's bauxite industry, which is controlled by RUSAL and Bosai, employs 1,280 workers.

- AFP