YAOUNDE - Rio Tinto's aluminium operation in Cameroon has secured a 30-year power supply contract with the government but electricity costs have doubled and output from a smelter will fall due to cuts in power consumption, Rio said.
Rio Tinto Alcan is a partner with Cameroon's government in Alucam, a bauxite mining and aluminium smelting operation that had already slashed output by nearly 40 percent from its 90,000 tonne capacity in 2009 due to power shortages.
"The new contract will last 30 years and Alucam will now pay 12.94 CFA francs ($0.029) per kilowatt of electricity, up from about 6 CFA francs for the previous one," Cameroon's Finance Minister Lazarre Essimi Meny said late on Friday.
Click here to read more about Rio's aluminum operation in Cameroon.
