A project director for Rio Tinto Ltd’s (ASX:RIO) aluminium plant in Paraguay has advised that the global miner’s investment is likely to hit the higher end of its forecast $US4 billion.
At the end of last year Rio increased the estimated cost from an original $US2.5 billion to $US3.5 billion.
The latest forecast comes as Rio told Reuters that the timeline for the project is very demanding.
Operations are due to start in 2016 and expected to create Rio’s biggest plant.
Rio believes the project has the capacity to transform Paraguay, giving it stability and developing its industry through attract hundreds of small, medium and large companies.
In the 2010 calendar year Rio Tinto recorded a net profit of $14.9 billion.
