Rio Tinto cuts output at UK aluminium smelter

LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto has cut production by one-third at its Lynemouth aluminium smelter in north-east England, a company spokesman said on Monday. "Rio Tinto has temporarily suspended about one-third of production at Lynemouth, partly due to high electricity prices and also because of low aluminium prices," a spokesman said. The plant in Northumberland has the capacity to produce around 175,000 tonnes of primary aluminium. The spokesman said the move was very much a temporary decision. Maintenance work would be carried out during the shutdown to make the smelter more efficient and the firm hoped to re-open it in 2009. He made the point that the company had not made any employees redundant. Lynemouth, which produced around 133,000 tonnes of metal in the first nine months of the year, was closed about two weeks ago. By 1033 GMT the London Metal Exchange (LME) three-months aluminium price was up at $1,795/1,805 a tonne, from $1,752 at Friday's close.