FACTBOX-Africa's aluminium industry

June 19 (Reuters) - Africa is home to some of the world's
biggest, purest bauxite deposits and has huge hydropower
potential to smelt it into aluminium, but pitiful infrastructure
and political risk are slowing capacity growth. [ID:nL19248664]

Below are details of some planned expansions along with 2008
African capacity and estimated production figures for bauxite,
alumina and primary aluminium in tonnes.

EXPANSION PLANS:

* UK-based private equity firm Klesch announced plans in
February to open a new 725,000 tonne/year aluminium smelter in
Libya by 2011 as part of an $8 billion oil refinery project.

* Abu Dhabi's state-run Mubadala and Dubai Aluminium (Dubal)
are studying a 700,000 T/yr aluminium smelter in Algeria.

* Alcoa (AA.N) and Rio Tinto (RIO.L) are considering adding
an alumina refinery to their Guinea bauxite joint venture.

* BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) signed a deal with
Democratic Republic of Congo in 2007 to jointly build a $3
billion, 800,000 T/yr aluminium smelter using power from the
proposed Inga III hydropower station on the Congo river.

* Cameroon's government and U.S. company Hydromine Inc. have
announced plans for a bauxite mine and 2.8 million-tonne alumina
plant for a cost of around $2 billion.

PRODUCTION AND EXPANSION WOES

* Global Alumina (GLAu.TO) delayed startup of planned 3.3
million T/yr alumina refinery in Guinea by two years to 2011 and
raised cost forecast 35 percent to $4.3 billion [ID:nL16384580].

* Rio Tinto (RIO.L) put its planned aluminium smelter at the
COEGA site in South Africa on hold due to power shortages.

* BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) said in March it was closing half
aluminium smelting capacity, or 120,000 T/yr, at South Africa's
Bayside plant due to power supply problems, while its other
plants in South Africa and Mozambique would reduce power use.

* Cameroon's Alucam announced plans in 2005 to more than
treble its aluminium smelting capacity to 300,000 tonnes from
90,000, but progress has been delayed by environmental concerns
over building the dams needed to power the expanded smelter.

* RUSAL plans to increase output from its Friguia alumina
refinery in Guinea to 1.05 million tonnes by 2009, from 527,000
tonnes. Guinea's government said in April the Russian company
risked losing the refinery over a contractual dispute, though
RUSAL said its contracts were fully legal and it had received no
correspondence from the Guinean government over the matter.

* Ghana's VALCO aluminium smelter closed since March 2007
due to shortage of power from the Volta dam hydropower station.

Capacity Production

BAUXITE: AFRICA (13 pct world capacity) 23.8 mln 22.3 mln
GUINEA 21.6 mln 20.1 mln

Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee 15.0 mln 13.5 mln

(Guinea State 49 pct, Rio Tinto 22.95

pct, Alcoa 22.95 pct, Dadco 5.10 pct)

Alumina Company of Guinea 2.8 mln 2.8 mln

(RUSAL)

Compagnie de Bauxites de Kindia 3.8 mln 3.8 mln

(RUSAL)
SIERRA LEONE 1.2 mln 1.2 mln

Titanium Resources Group TXR.L
GHANA 1.0 mln 1.0 mln

Ghana Bauxite Company

(Rio Tinto 80 pct; Ghana State 20 pct)

------------------------------------------------------------

ALUMINA (0.6 pct world capacity) 640,000 527,000
GUINEA

Alumina Company of Guinea/Friguia (RUSAL)

------------------------------------------------------------

ALUMINIUM: AFRICA (5 pct world capacity) 2.21 mln 1.74 mln
CAMEROON 90,000 80,000

Alucam (Rio Tinto 46.7 pct, Cameroon

State 46.7 pct, others 6.6 pct)
EGYPT 300,000 300,000

EgyptAlum

(Egypt State 92.2 pct, others 7.8 pct)
GHANA 200,000 --

Valco (Ghana state 90 pct, Alcoa 10 pct)
MOZAMBIQUE 510,000 502,200

Mozal (BHP Billiton 47 pct,

Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) 25 pct,

IDC 24 pct, Mozambique state 4 pct)
SOUTH AFRICA 920,000 721,800

Bayside (BHP Billiton) 250,000 107,200

Hillside (BHP Billiton) 670,000 614,600
NIGERIA 193,000 131,500

ALSCON (RUSAL 77.5%, Nigeria state 15%,

Ferrostaal (MANG.DE) 7.5%)

Reuters Metal Production Database, available to 3000Xtra users
here
Other sources: Reuters; International Aluminium Institute
www.world-aluminium.org/; Middle Eastern media reports
(Reporting by Alistair Thomson, Karen Norton, Tansa Musa,
Katrina Manson; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Christopher
Johnson)