Rio Tinto Alcan chief executive Dick Evans said the company was now a world leader in bauxite and aluminium production on a path to become the largest alumina producer. "Our modern, low-cost smelting assets benefit from a competitive hydro power position, which is becoming ever more valuable in today's energy-constrained world," Mr Evans said. "This is a business which we intend to grow and from which we are ideally positioned to deliver value in the future." Excluding Rio Tinto Alcan's packaging and engineered products assets - which are being sold but were included in the 2007 results - the primary metal, bauxite and alumina business unit achieved pro forma 2007 underlying earnings of $2.092 billion. This represents 23 per cent of Rio Tinto's pro forma underlying earnings before corporate items and interest.