Russia's RUSAL wants to continue Indonesia jv

JAKARTA, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Russian aluminium firm United Company RUSAL is still committed to a planned Indonesian alumina joint venture project with state miner PT Aneka Tambang Tbk , the Russian firm said in a statement. Indonesia wants to speed up the project which started in late 2007 and the country's investment board has been in talks with Norsk Hydro ASA about the possibility of it working with Antam on the project if there is no serious progress with RUSAL. [ID:nJAK452204] "We remain interested in this project and have recently forwarded to our partners in Antam our suggestions on the approach to this project implementation," RUSAL said in an emailed statement to Reuters. The project had been valued at around $1.4 billion, but could require investment of as much as $4 billion, including related infrastructure. UC RUSAL, the world's largest aluminium producer, is majority owned by billionaire Oleg Deripaska. The firm planned a stock listing in Hong Kong and the proceeds may be used to repay its debts, which is estimated at $16.8 billion. It is also in talks with banks on debt restructuring, which it hopes to finish by the end of October. Antam, which has a stock market value of $2.6 billion, is involved in the exploration and production of nickel, bauxite, iron sands, gold and silver, as well as smelting ferronickel. (Reporting by Tyagita Silka; Editing by Ed Davies)