Cameroon's Aluminum Co Alucam Names New Manager - Radio

YAOUNDE, Cameroon, Apr 16, 2009 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- The executive board of Cameroon's only aluminum smelter, Société Camerounaise d'Aluminium, or Alucam, has appointed Alain Malong as general manager, Cameroon Radio Television, or CRTV, reported Thursday. Malong, who has been acting as interim general manager, replaces Raphael Titi Manyaka who resigned in January. Alucam entered into a strategic partnership with Rio Tinto Alcan, a unit of Rio Tinto PLC (RTP), to more than triple the country's annual 90,000-metric-tons aluminum output. However, due to a fall in aluminum prices and energy supply issues in Cameroon, Alucam has been forced to slash production by 40%. CRTV said Rio Tinto executive Jean-Philippe Puig, who chaired the board meeting, urged the new manager to "take the destiny of Alucam into his hands in order to realize the pending projects of the company and resolve acute problems affecting it." -By Emmanuel Tumanjong, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; +237-7773-1930, tnuel@yahoo.com