Vedanta Orissa smelter by June '10

Mumbai: Vedanta Aluminium, a subsidiary of Sterlite Industries, plans to make the first phase of its aluminium smelter in Jharsuguda, Orissa, fully operational by June 2010. The smelter will have a capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year, which will be doubled in the second phase, the company said in a press release. Meanwhile, Sterlite Industries reported a drop in profit for the third straight quarter, after copper-refining fees failed to offset a decline in zinc prices. Net profit fell 55% to Rs 598 crore in the three months ended March 31, from Rs 1,320 crore a year ago, the company said. Revenue from the copper business grew as Sterlite won fees of $75 a metric tonne for smelting ore and 7.5 cents a pound for refining copper this year, an unidentified company executive said on January 13. That compares with $45 and 4.5 cents for 2008. Sterlite said it will compete with any rival bid to buy Asarco, America's third-largest copper producer, for which it has already offered $1.7 billion. Barely within a month of Sterlite Industries signing a pact with Asarco, rival Grupo Mexico came up with a counter offer. "...There always can be a competing bid and if that happens we have a right to match it," Vedanta Resources deputy executive chairman Navin Agarwal said during an analyst conference after the financial results announcement. A US bankruptcy court has approved the company's revised buyout pact with Asarco and Sterlite expects the deal to be sealed in four months, even as its bid has been countered by the copper miner's parent entity Grupo Mexico. "...As a first step towards completion of the transaction, the bankruptcy court has approved the revised agreement and has certain bid protection measures like break-up fee etc. We think it will take another three to four months to complete the transaction, subject to court approval," he said. Bharat Aluminium Co (Balco), a Sterlite subsidiary, reported aluminium production of 85,000 tn in January-March 2009, down 7,000 tn from the corresponding period last fiscal.