FACTBOX-Mines and plants hurt by low prices, high costs

Oct 15 (Reuters) - The global financial crisis and sharp falls in metals prices have forced several companies to abandon or put on hold their plans to bring new mines on-stream.

Some existing producers have also shut down or curtailed their output at mines and plants as high costs and low prices bite. Below are details of the major projects which have been affected in recent months, as well as other related news.

Oct 15 - China's Chalco (2600.HK) (601600.SS) is shutting a further 1 million tonnes of production at its Shandong alumina refinery, a company source said. The move comes on top of an earlier 300,000 tonnes cutback. Earlier in the week, refinery sources said high-cost capacity in China was cutting back as prices fell.

Oct 14 - A $10.6 billion aluminium joint venture between Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX) and Saudi Arabian Mining Co 1211.SE (Maaden) is under review because of the global financial crisis, a Maaden executive said. He declined to give a timeframe for decisions on the plant.

Oct 14 - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N) said it was reviewing capital projects and cost structures in response to falling copper prices. A company official said it would be an ongoing process but Freeport would give more details in a week's time. It was unlikely Freeport's major projects -- the planned Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt proejct in Democratic Republic of Congo and the Climax molybdenum mine in the United States would be postponed.

Oct 13 - The Philippines has pushed back its target of attracting $10 billion in investments into the mining sector by a year to 2012, with some companies struggling to raise funds. The director of the mines and geosciences bureau said the government was also unsure whether it will meet its goal of drawing $1 billion in mining investments this year.

Oct 10 - China's Chalco said it may have to cut aluminium output because of weak prices, signalling that other producers in the country might struggle to keep their high-cost capacity running and follow suit.

Oct 10 - The Russian Copper Company has temporarily shelved separate projects to expand into nickel and build a zinc plant with a rival miner due to the global financial crisis. The company said in February it was prepared to invest $640 million to create a new subsidiary, the Russian Nickel Company, to produce at least 10,000 tonnes of nickel and 1,000 tonnes of cobalt. In May, the company and Urals Mining and Metals Co announced a $650 million project to jointly build a new zinc plant with a 300,000 tonnes per year (tpy) capacity.

Oct 9 - Strategic Resources Acquisition (SRA) SRZ.TO said it would be initiating a temporary care and maintenance programme at its Mid-Tennessee zinc mining complex. The company said that since production began at the Gordonsville mine in April 2008, cash costs per pound of payable zinc had been well above prevailing commodity prices.