Vedanta Group companies — Hindustan Zinc, Sterlite Industries and Sesa Goa — reported a mixed production performance in the September quarter of this fiscal.
Mining ban
Sesa Goa iron ore output was hit by the mining ban in Karnataka and Goa. Hindustan Zinc reported that its zinc output has dipped, while its lead and silver production increased substantially.
Hindustan Zinc’s mined metal production was down 10 per cent at 190,000 tonnes in the September quarter. In the first half, it was down five per cent at 377,000 tonnes (398,000 tonnes).
Consequently, refined zinc production dipped 17 per cent at 153,000 tonnes (185,000 tonnes) in Q2.
However, integrated lead output was up 40 per cent at 24,000 tonnes, driven by the ramp-up of the new 100,000-tonne Dariba lead smelter.
Integrated silver production was up 63 per cent at 80 tonnes (49 tonnes), largely due to the ramp-up of production at SK mine in Rajasthan. Sesa Goa reported that its iron ore production plunged 87 per cent in the September quarter to 0.2 million tonnes (1.6 mt), while it was down 3.1 mt (5.8 mt) in the first half.
Last month, the Supreme Court allowed some mines in Karnataka to resume mining operations. “The CEC (Central Empowered Committee) has approved our Reclamation and Rehabilitation plan at a provisional production capacity of 2.29 mtpa, and we expect to commence mining in Karnataka, subject to receiving the court’s approval,” the company said in a press release on Tuesday.
The Goa State Government ordered a temporary suspension on extraction in September. The Supreme Court, this month, asked the CEC to file a preliminary report in four weeks. Until then, the court has also restricted any movement of ore from mines or stockyard. Mined metal production in Australia was up 14 per cent at 6,000 tonnes in the second quarter, while copper cathode output remained unchanged at 87,000 tonnes. Aluminium production at Balco was up four per cent at 63,000 tonnes. The first phase unit of 300 MW of Balco’s 1,200 MW captive power plant could not be synchronised due to regulatory approvals and is expected to be done in the current quarter.
“We plan to tap the first metal at the 325,000 tonnes per annum Korba-III aluminium smelter in Q4 FY2013,” the company said.
The company managed to sell 2,474 million units of power, which is up 42 per cent compared to the second quarter of last year. This significant increase was primarily due to higher power sales from three units of the 2,400 MW plant at Jharsuguda in Odhisa.
Evacuation problems
The output at Jharsuguda would have been higher if not for the evacuation problems. “We continue to work towards debottlenecking of evacuation capacity and target to enhance it by an additional 1,000 MW by Q4 FY’13,” the company said.
Power sales at Balco 270 MW were 10 per cent lower at 346 million units in Q2.
Shares of Hindustan Zinc jumped three per cent to Rs 136, while Sterlite Industries and Sesa Goa moved up two and one per cent each to Rs 102 and Rs 173, respectively.