LONDON--Vedanta Resources PLC Wednesday announced that finished metal production across all metals was higher in the three months to March 31 than the preceding quarter and the corresponding quarter in the previous period, mainly because of increased contribution from stabilisation of phase 1 projects and successful de-bottlenecking activities.
The company said that for fiscal 2007 as a whole it produced 351,000 tons of aluminum, up from 210,000 tons a year earlier due to the full ramp-up of its Korba smelter.
Copper cathode production at its Indian operations rose to 313,000 tonnes from 273,000 tons for the year due to production increases at its Tuticorin facility.
The company added that mined metal production in Australia fell in the final quarter due to a minor rockfall. Prices of copper and zinc both slipped in the fourth quarter, the firm added.
Aluminium
Production of 351,000 tonnes of aluminium in FY 2007 was significantly higher than that of the previous year at 210,000 tonnes as a result of increase in production due to the full ramp-up of the new Korba smelter, which produced 208,000 tonnes during the year.
The stabilisation process of the new Korba smelter was quicker than estimated and as a result the plant has consistently achieved rated capacity in the last two quarter with the fourth quarter output at 62,000 tonnes, taking the total aluminium production in Q4 to 98,000 tonnes.
Production from existing smelters at BALCO and MALCO was 143,000 tonnes in FY 2007, marginally higher than their rated capacity, as a result of continuous improvement efforts.
Copper
Copper cathode production at the company's Indian operations in FY 2007 and Q4 was 313,000 tonnes and 89,000 tonnes as compared to 273,000 tonnes and 75,000 tonnes respectively, representing an increase of 15% and 19% over the corresponding prior periods due to de-bottlenecking of its facility at Tuticorin.
Production after successful debottlenecking is steadily ramping up and contributing towards additional volumes in Q4, with production close to rated capacity in March 2007. The Tuticorin smelter was under planned shutdown for eight days in the first week of April 2007 for carrying out modifications and improvements, at the sulphuric acid plant.
Mined metal production at the company's Australian mines of 6,000 tonnes in Q4 is lower than that of the corresponding period in the previous year due to a temporary two-week disruption in the mining activities as a result of minor rockfall incident.
Post investigation of the incident by an independent expert, the site was declared safe and mining activities were restored in the month of March 2007, which are expected to pick up to normal levels in the current quarter.
The company's Zambian operations produced 37,000 tonnes of copper cathode as compared with 35,000 tonnes in the immediately preceding quarter. Its efforts to stabilise tail leach plant have shown positive trends with a production of 4,000 tonnes in March 2007.
Smelter output has also shown an improvement with the anode production at 12,000 tonnes in the month of March 2007. Consistent output from the smelter requires plant reliability, which is sought through a series of measures including a partial plant shutdown in April 2007 for 20 days for major overhauling.
Zinc
Refined zinc production during FY 2007 was 348,000 tonnes, compared with 284,000 tonnes in FY 2006, up by 23% due to the ramp-up of new hydro smelter at Chanderiya. The total zinc production in Q4 was 95,000 tones. Surplus zinc concentrate of 70,000 dry metric tonnes was sold in Q4.
Mined zinc metal production was 505,000 tonnes for FY 2007 representing an increase of 7% over the corresponding previous year. The increase in production was primarily due to improved production from Rampura Agucha mines.
Gold
The lower output during the quarter at Sterlite Gold Limited is d
豫公网安备41010502003434号