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

Oct 22 (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 and facilities which have been affected in recent months, as well as other related news.

Oct 22 - Century Aluminum Co (CENX.O) said it had stopped making any new capital commitments due to the global financial crisis. The company said it was assessing the status of its Helguvik aluminium smelter project in Iceland. Century earlier said the first stage of about 150,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of the 250,000 tpy project was expected to start up by late 2010.

Oct 21- Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N) said it would curtail planned mine expansions because of weaker metals prices and current economic conditions. The company said it would delay expansion projects at its Sierrita and Bagdad copper mines in Arizona and would push back the restart of its Miami mine in the state, cutting about $370 million in planned capital costs. The company was also seeking to defer some spending at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia, as well as at the El Abra mine in Chile.

Oct 21 - GobiMin Inc said it will start a strategic review on the development of the Yellow Mountain nickel-copper project due to the recent decline in prices. The company said the deposit remained one of the largest undeveloped nickel deposits in China.

Oct 21 - North American Palladium Ltd (PDL.TO) said it will place its Lac des Iles mine in Ontario on temporary care and maintenance due to falling metal prices. As well as palladium, the mine produces by-product platinum, nickel, gold and copper.

Oct 21 - Ningbo Gold Resources Copper Industry Group, a Chinese copper and semi-finished products maker, has cut output as demand for copper falls, company officials said. An official at the company, which is also known as Jintian, rejected Chinese media reports that it had financial problems which had forced it to shut much of its copper production.

Oct 21 - FNX Mining Company Inc. (FNX.TO) said it has suspended "commercial" production from the Levack nickel contact deposits part of its Levack Complex, citing low commodity prices and high operating costs. But mining from the Levack nickel deposits will continue during Q4 to produce material for "metallurgical test" production.

Oct 21 - Russia's Norilsk (GMKN.MM), the world's largest nickel producer, said it will revise its investment programme for next year due to a decline in metals prices.

Oct 21 - Indonesia's tin-producing Bangka-Belitung islands have asked small smelters to stop operating as falling prices have cut margins of smelters and smaller miners, the governor of the islands said.

Oct 21 - A full or partial closure of the Century zinc mine in Australia, the world's second largest, is being considered as zinc prices continue to fall, Oz Minerals Ltd (OZL.AX) said. There was no timetable set for taking a decision on the mine's future. Last year the mine produced around 527,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate.

Oct 21 - Egypt's El Sewedy Cables said it will delay a copper smelter project "for the time being" due to market conditions. The company said last year it would build an $850 million copper smelter in Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea coast to produce 300,000 tpy of copper.

Oct 20 - Canada's First Nickel Inc (FNI.TO) said it suspended output at its Lockerby mine as the mining and exploration company grapples with low prices. The company said nickel prices were below the mine's cash costs. Lockerby will be kept in a ready state, enabling a return to production when economic conditions improve, while the company evaluates its options on the mine.

Oct 20 - Central Sun Mining Inc CSM.TO said its Orosi gold mine expansion project will be temporarily suspended. The company was in the process of converting the mine from a heap leach to a conventional milling operation. Production had been expected to start in the first quarter of 2009.

Oct 17 - More producers in China have cut their aluminium output in the face of low prices. Hongkong Longquan Aluminium has cut 40,000 tonnes, or about 7 percent of its 600,000 tonnes per year (tpy) capacity in Henan province. The timeframe of the shutdown was uncertain, depending on prices. HMHJ Aluminium and Electricity, owned by China Power Investment Corp, has reduced supply of electricity to its production cells, with combined capacity of 300,000 tpy to cut aluminium output by 10-20 percent, a senior executive said. He also said the firm had delayed the start-up of 150,000 tpy of new aluminium smelting capacity in Inner Mongolia.

Oct 17 - Norilsk Nickel said it will halt production at its Cawse laterite nickel operation in Western Australia because of higher costs and lower metal prices. The facility, which has been on indefinite care and maintenance, has been operating under increasing cost pressures for some time, the company said.

Oct 17 - Blue Note Mining BN.TO announced it will be initiating a temporary care and maintenance programme at its Caribou and Restigouche zinc-lead mines.

Oct 16 - Several of Indonesia's small tin smelters stopped production at the end of September and are likely to stay shut for the rest of this year because of the drop in tin prices, industry officials said.

Oct 15 - Belvedere Resources Ltd. (BEL.V) said it had temporarily suspended mine development work at its Hitura nickel mine in Finland due to heavy falls in nickel prices. The company said mine production could continue at normal rates for a further 3-6 months without the need for further development.

Oct 15 - Aluminium producer Rio Tinto Alcan (RIO.L) (RIO.AX) said it plans minor production cutbacks at two or three higher-cost smelters due to weak prices. While the company trims some higher cost output it is also increasing production at some lower cost smelters.

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 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 13 - Intrepid Mines Ltd IXN.TO said it was postponing construction of its $86 million Casposo gold andsilver project in Argentina due to "the dramatic impact of market turmoil on the availability of funds." However, it vowed to step up drilling at the site in San Juan province and said it was looking at the possibility of developing the mine without outside financing.

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.