Rio is "looking" at Malaysian aluminium project

Rio Tinto Group, the world`s third-largest mining company, said that it is looking at an aluminium project in Sarawak, Malaysia.

"We`re looking at a greenfield hydropower aluminium project in Sarawak," Nick Cobban, a company spokesman, said on Tuesday in a telephone interview from London. However, it is "too early" to release more details about the project," he said.

Chief executive officer Tom Albanese said on Tuesday at a presentation in Dublin that the company is expanding its "global footprint in aluminium" with projects in Sarawak in Malaysia, Australia and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Aluminium is "likely to be a winner of climate change," he said in a copy of the presentation posted on Rio`s website.

Aluminium prices rose to a record last year on increasing use of the lightweight metal.

London-based Rio produced 844,700 t of aluminium last year and 3.25 Mt of alumina, the raw material  used to make the metal, according to the company`s website.