The mining and industrial processing company made the comments when giving its financial results for the 2008 financial year.
Regionally, it noted that the value attributed to water rights in Canada was reduced due to further assessment of the capital spend required to exploit the hydro power potential.
News agency AFX reports, however, that Rio Tinto told state radio in Cameroon that plans were proceeding to build a 1GW hydro power plant on the Sanaga river. The plant is being developed to provide electricity for the company's proposed 400,000 tonne/year aluminium smelter at Kribi.
Along with the financial results, the company in its general announcements said there would be job cuts and a scaling-back of aluminium production.
