Saudi Arabian Mining Company has announced the kingdom's first aluminium smelter is to reach full production later than planned due to long delays to a power plant it needs to run flat out.

Maaden said that operations at the USD 10.8 billion aluminium smelter it shares with US based Alcoa are expected to commence in December and that it has secured some of the huge amounts of electricity it will need.

However it will not be able to ramp up to 740,000 tonnes per year of smelting capacity because the 2,400 MW power plants due online in October will not be ready until late 2013. The power project halt may cause shortage in the supply of electricity required by the Maaden Aluminium Company at Ras Al Khair.