DJ Rio Tinto Urges Cameroon To Speed Up Energy Project -Official

YAOUNDE, Cameroon, Apr 02, 2009 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- A senior official of aluminium giant Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) met Cameroon President Paul Biya Thursday, to press for the swift construction of a gas plant to supply energy needed to increase aluminium production. "We want the Kribi gas project to go operational as soon as possible, and the head of state has given us the assurance that he will do his best to push the project, so that in the next 24 months, the gas plant is set in its full capacity," Jean-Philippe Puig, president Primary Metals Europe, Middle East and Africa, an affiliate of Rio Tinto-Alcan told reporters Thursday after his presidential audience. "We're worried about the energy situation in the country, which has caused us to cut production of aluminium," he said. Rio Tinto is a strategic partner with state-run Societé Camerounaise d'Aluminium, or Alucam, which is aiming to raise Cameroon's aluminium output to 400,000 metric tons from the current 90,000 tons. Already, Alucam has slashed its production capacity by 40% due to the energy shortage. The U.S.'s AES Corp., which bought more than 56% of Cameroon's former state-run National Electricity Corp, or Sonel, to form AES-Sonel, will construct the plant. It is expected to generate between 155 and 216 megawatts of electricity by 2010 under a September 2008 agreement between Cameroon and the energy firm. Part of the energy produced in Kribi will immediately serve Rio Tinto-Alcan-Alucam aluminium production, but the consortium has also begun prospecting for a site to produce its own hydroelectricity supply on the Sanaga, Cameroon's longest river.