The Australian reported that the credit crisis and falling Chinese demand for commodities continues to bite the resources sector, with two more major project expansions in Western Australia put on hold.

Following a slew of recent cutbacks and delays, aluminum giant Alcoa revealed it had shelved its Wagerup alumina refinery expansion south of Perth, while Fortescue Metals Group said it was reviewing a USD 2 billion Pilbara iron ore growth plan.

Alcoa's plans to shelve the multi billion dollar Wagerup expansion could cost 1500 construction jobs and 250 permanent jobs. Alcoa gave no indication of how long it expected the project, which had been due to start in 2010, would be delayed, saying only that it would look at it again when conditions improved.