Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) has signed a joint venture with a company jointly owned by Malaysian tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary to build a $1.6 billion smelter in the country's Borneo state of Sarawak. The joint venture for the 370,000 tonnes a year aluminium smelter follows from the heads of agreement signed between Syed Mokhtar's Gulf International Investment Group (GIIG) Holdings and Chinalco in 2010, said project manager Asia Smelter.
The smelter is among various projects including Rio Tinto's aluminium processor and OM Holdings's manganese plant that were waiting to begin construction once the 2,400 megawatt Bakun hydro-electric dam starts up this year. Asia Smelter said it also signed the principal terms of the power purchase agreement with Sarawak Energy for over 600 MW of power from the grid powered by Bakun dam and other hydro-electric power plants.
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