Saudi Maaden, Rio Tinto aluminium venture delayed

DUBAI, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A $10.6 billion aluminium joint venture between Rio Tinto and Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) to be built in the kingdom will be delayed by the global financial crisis, a Maaden executive said on Tuesday. "The aluminium project will probably be a little later because of the financial situation around the world," Maaden Chief Executive Abdullah Dabbagh told an industry conference in Dubai. "We were hoping it would be 2012-2013," he said. He declined to give a new timeframe when asked later. Maaden said in July the venture was still viable despite a 40 percent increase in costs due to greater capacity and inflation. Dabbagh was quoted as saying in August it planned to borrow as much as $8 billion in the third quarter of next year to finance the project. The aluminium smelter will now have an annual production capacity of 740,000 tonnes instead of 650,000 tonnes, Maaden said. Maaden had already revised up the project's cost in May to $7.53 billion from $7 billion. Rio Tinto has said it had put its aluminium smelter project in neighbouring Abu Dhabi on hold, pending a review by the Gulf emirate's government of its energy requirements. Source: Thomson Financial News Limited 2008