Rio Tinto eyes two-billion-dollar smelting plant in Malaysia

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) — Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and a Malaysian firm are to undertake a joint study to build what could be one of the world's biggest aluminum smelters, a source said Sunday.

Under an agreement expected to be signed Tuesday, Rio Tinto Aluminium and Cahaya Mata Sarawak Bhd. would carry out the study for a two-billion-dollar smelter in Similajau, Sarawak.

The smelter was expected to begin production in 2010, an industry source familiar with the plan told AFP.

"If the project takes off, it has the potential to be one of the biggest aluminium smelters in the world," the source said.

Power from the controversial Bakun dam in Sarawak on Borneo island was expected to supply the bulk of energy needs for the smelter, the source...