MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rio Tinto/Alcan presents project for 2.5bn aluminium smelter in Paraguay

President Fernando Lugo

Rio Tinto Alcan, a unit of global mining giant Rio Tinto formally presented on Monday plans to invest 2.5 billion US dollars in an aluminium smelter in Paraguay, according to corporation and Asuncion sources.

Last December Rio Tinto Alcan had begun negotiations on a possible power purchase agreement for the potential smelter. “Our projections indicate the total investment ... to be approximately 2.5 billion” said Sandeep Biswas, the head of Rio Tinto Alcan's new business division, according to reports from Asuncion.

The company signed a letter of intent with Paraguay's state-run National Electrical Administration (ANDE) to begin negotiations on an energy purchasing agreement in the future.

Paraguayan government sources said Rio Tinto-Alcan made an official presentation of the project to President Fernando Lugo and his economic cabinet saying basically that the future smelter would produce 480.000 tons of aluminium annually.

This volume would represent annual exports of at least a billion US dollars and taxes in the range of 100 million USD. The plant would be operational by 2016.

“The project would generate 850 direct and permanent jobs and 9.000 indirect jobs”, said Juan Pazos Romero, spokesperson for Rio Tinto-Alcan.

Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the UK, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London and NYSE listed company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Rio Tinto's business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Major products are aluminium, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa.