8 Asian Metallurgy 2011

H O M E

India's largest zinc producer Vedanta Group controlled Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) achieved its highest ever mined metal production of 231,000 tonnes and 840,000 tonnes, up 19% and 9% in the fourth quarter (Q4) and full financial year respectively as compared with the corresponding prior periods. The increase in production was primarily on account of higher contribution from Rampura Agucha and Sindesar Khurd mines. Refined Zinc metal production, during Q4 and FY 2011, was highest ever at 194,000 tonnes and 712,000 tonnes, up 29% and 23% respectively compared with the corresponding prior periods. The increase in production is largely attributable to increased contribution from Dariba hydro zinc smelter, which contributed around 46,000 tonnes during fourth quarter and 165,000 tonnes during FY 2011. Refined lead metal production was 13% lower at 18,000 tonnes in the last quarter of the 2010-11 and 12% lower at 63,000 tonnes in the full financial year as compared with the corresponding prior periods. Refined silver production of 50,000 kilograms was largely in line with the corresponding prior quarter. Silver production for the full financial year was higher at 179,000 kilograms. During the fourth quarter, the company sold 30,000 dry metric tonnes of surplus zinc concentrate and 18,000 dry metric tonnes of surplus lead concentrate with high silver content, taking the full year concentrate sales to 66,000 dry metric tonnes for Zinc concentrate and 39,000 dry metric tonnes for lead concentrate. Revenues for Q4 and FY 2011 were highest ever at Rs 3,197 crore and Rs 9,912 crore respectively, an increase of 28% and 24%, compared with the corresponding prior periods. The company also achieved record net profits of Rs 1,771 crore and Rs 4,901 crore in Q4 and FY 2011, up 43% and 21% respectively, compared with the corresponding prior periods. The increase was primarily on account of increased volumes, operational efficiencies and improved LME prices. Silver realization for Q4 and FY 2011 was Rs 218 crore and Rs 544 crore respectively, up 98% and 58%, compared with the corresponding prior period. The zinc metal cost, without royalty, during the quarter increased by 5% to Rs 35,500 ($784) per MT, compared with the corresponding prior quarter. The unit cost for FY 2011 was higher by 11% at Rs 36,800 ($808) per MT, compared with the previous year. The increase in costs was on account of significant increase in the commodity prices, impact of increase in gratuity ceiling and higher stripping costs at Rampura Agucha.

Navaratna PSU and aluminium major Nalco, which posted a net profit of Rs 1069 crore in 2010-11, has decided to fund capex through internal accruals and not to raise funds from market for its future capital needs. Stating that though the company has projected capital investment of Rs 1057 crore in 2011-12 towards various greenfield and brownfield projects, it would depend on its own resources based on healthy cash balance available. The company plans mainly for capacity upgradation of its alumina refinery, setting up a wind power plant, equity share in joint venture for nuclear power plant and for developing Utkal-E Coal Mine - a captive coal block allotted to it - in the next fiscal. The balance payments for second phase of expansion project would also entail substantial capex during the year, sources said.

According to National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), aluminium rates may stay in the range of $2,500 to $2,700 per tonne for the next two-three months. NALCO is among India's largest aluminium producer. Although a small player in the international metal market, its sales prices act as international benchmark. The demand and supply ratio will remain balanced up to December. Aluminium prices will be influenced by dollar strength and other major currencies . By the end of the current fiscal year, the aluminium prices should not go down $2500 per tonne.

Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (GMDC) has decided to invite financial offers from more companies for its alumina project in Kutch. It may be mentioned here that the state run mining major had shortlisted four companies for the project in January this year. GMDC expects to get better price-proposition for the project by bringing in companies other than already shortlisted firms. GMDC is now in the process of inviting financial offers from both shortlisted as well as non-shortlisted companies for the proposed Rs 14,000 crore alumina plant in Kutchh, V S Gadhvi, managing director. GMDC believes that most of the companies, which had filed the expression of interests (EOI) for the project earlier, are capable enough to partner with us for the project. The public sector mining major would invite the financial offers by June 15, 2011. The final decision will be taken after consulting the state cabinet. Last year, GMDC had received EOIs from nine companies including Hindalco - an Aditya Birla group company, Jaiprakash Associates, JSW Aluminium, NALCO, Gujarat Foils, Aluchem (USA), Dubai Aluminium, Adani Group and Jindal Steel and Power. Of these four were short-listed after the evaluation of the expression of interests (EOIs). The company has decided to invite financial offers not only from the shortlisted firms, but also from some of the leftouts. It is not that the shortlisted companies failed to meet the criteria, but the company feels that there is a scope for better price-proposition by inviting some more companies too. Few companies have no experience in this domain and some do not even have an experience of working in Gujarat. So we may not invite all the nine companies, but about 6-7 companies may be invited with financial offers, said Gadhvi.

Hertwich Engineering, Austria, has successfully commissioned a horizontal continuous caster for T-bars at the National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO) in India. The plant forms part of an expansion project at the Angul works in the state of Orissa which will expand NALCO's capacity to 115,000 t per year, of which 60,000 t of T-bars will be produced on the new horizontal continuous caster from Hertwich Engineering.
Horizontally cast T-bars have clear quality advantages: A fine, uniform microstructure, minimum inclusions and oxides, no surface cracks or pores and an exact geometry.
The scope of supply includes the casting plant with flying saw and the downline transport and packaging facilities. The caster is 3,000 mm wide. T-bars of 850 x 300 mm are cast continuously in three strands and then sawn to lengths of 1,050 mm.

Hindustan Zinc Ltd., raised lead prices by 2.6% to Rs. 132,300 a metric ton, according to reports. It kept the zinc prices unchanged at Rs. 117,900 a ton. The shares of Hindustan Zinc declined by Rs. 133, down by Rs. 1.05 or 0.78% as against the previous close of Rs. 134. It touched a high at Rs. 134 and low at Rs. 132, resulting the total traded quantity at 0.12 lakh shares on the BSE.

Derivative losses, higher capital spending and debt costs have resulted in 37% fall in profit for Hindalco Industries. India's largest aluminium producer's group net profit for year ended March fell to Rs 2,456 crore.Revenues including of subsidiary Novelis, rose 19% to Rs 72,078 crore on strong volumes, improved product mix and firm aluminium and copper prices.
Hindalco's scrip fell 2.3% to Rs 193.05 in Mumbai trading. Shares have fallen 22% compared to 11% drop in Sensex. Last fiscal, the company's net profit of Rs 3,925 crore had a derivative gain of Rs 2, 736 crore. It recorded a loss of Rs 291 crore on the same account in FY11. During the year financing charges rose 66% to Rs 1,839 crore against Rs 1,104 crore.

Hindustan Copper Ltd may enter a joint venture with aluminium major NALCO, to explore alternative options for funding new mining projects. The company is using delay of time in the FPO (follow-on offer) to explore means for raising finance.
The focus of Hindustan Copper is to raise its mining output four-fold to 12 million tonne from current 3.6 million tonne. The company is confident of generating funds from internal sources in the next two years, but will face a fund shortfall in 2013.
HCL's joint venture with NALCO will be for developing the Malanjkhand copper mines in Madhya Pradesh. The total investment required for this is around Rs 3,677 crore plan for brownfield expansion of its mines. Other mines being expanded include Surda, Rakkha and Chapri-Sideshwari in Jharkhand. HCL reported a rise of 55% in profit before tax in 2010-11 to Rs 335 crore, due to gains from high copper prices on LME.
The company also wants to begin with bidding for copper deposits in Afghanistan with NALCO. Demand for copper is expected to grow at around 7% this fiscal year in the domestic market. India's copper production declined to 653'436 tonnes in the previous year. Total installed capacity for copper is higher at 949,500 tonnes.
 

Solidium Oy, which manages the shareholdings of the Finnish state, bought a 4.3 percent stake in nickel producer Talvivaara Mining Co. as it seeks to profit from gains in commodity prices. Solidium paid stainless-steel producer Outokumpu Oyj 60 million euros ($86.6 million) for the shares, the holding company said in a statement. Outokumpu advanced the most in almost 11 months in Helsinki trading, while Talvivaara climbed the most since January in London. Nickel prices rose 34 percent last year in London as demand for the stainless-steelmaking material grew in Asia, fueling acquisitions. Commodities trader Trafigura Beheer BV agreed in December to buy 8 percent of OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the largest producer, while United Co. Rusal has repeatedly refused to sell out of the Russian company as it forecasts future profit gains. Talvivaara's main asset is the Talvivaara nickel mine in Sotkamo, Finland. Its Kuusilampi and Kolmisoppi deposits hold the largest known sulphide nickel resources in Europe. The acquisition adds to Solidium's metal and mining interests. The Helsinki-based company, which manages about 8.8 billion euros of investments for the Finnish state, already has a 30.8 percent stake in Outokumpu and 10.4 percent in Metso Oyj, which makes rock crushers used by the mining industry. Talvivaara Mining also said it bought a 4 percent stake in Talvivaara Sotkamo Oy, its operating unit, from Outokumpu for 60 million euros and got an option to purchase the rest of Outokumpu's 20 percent holding for 240 million euros by the end of the first quarter next year. Outokumpu acquired its stake in 2004 in exchange for handing over the rights to mine the Talvivaara deposits. This acquisition will allow Talvivaara to take outright ownership of a high-growth and largely de-risked world-class asset. Talvivaara is purchasing the mine at an 11 percent discount to the 337 million-euro listed value.

Pacific Metals Co, Japan's largest ferro-nickel producer, expects output to plunge to 8,305 tonnes in the April-September first half, down 59 percent from the same period last year due to damage to its plant from the March 11 earthquake. The company expects production at its Hachinohe plant in Aomori prefecture, northern Japan, to return to normal by mid-June. It expects output to recover to 20,010 tonnes in the second half of the business year to next March 31, up from 17,036 tonnes in the same period last financial year. Pacific Metals is partially owned by Japan's biggest stainless steel maker, Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corp, a joint venture between Nippon Steel Corp and Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. Pacific Metals said recently it expects an operating profit of 6.1 billion yen ($75 million) for the full year ending in March, down from 18.5 billion yen a year earlier and below 13.9 billion yen. The company did not give a forecast for the current financial year in early May when it unveiled its 2010/11 results, citing uncertainty over supply-chain disruptions and power supplies following the earthquake and tsunami.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world's largest producer of the precious metal, said Zambia granted unconditional approval of its C$7.3 billion ($7.5 billion) takeover of Equinox Minerals Ltd. and the copper producer's Lumwana mine. All required regulatory approvals for the bid have now been received, Toronto-based Barrick said in a statement. Zambia's consent comes a day before the tender offer for Equinox shares expires, the gold producer said. The Zambian Competition Commission said in a statement that day that Barrick must let Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings, a state- controlled mining company, keep its 2.2 percent stake in Equinox as a condition of the approval for the deal. Barrick also must honor Lumwana's existing agreements with a local smelter and suppliers, and limit job losses, the commission had said. The condition that Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines keep a 2.2 percent stake has been removed.

Yunnan Tin Co., the world's largest producer of the metal, said it plans to set up a copper-smelting unit to diversify. The board has approved 100,000 tonnes of copper- smelting capacity, according to a company statement. It didn't say when construction of the new facility will start or be completed. Apart from the core tin business, the company has 100,000- tons of lead-smelting capacity.

Rio Tinto Group, the world's second - largest mining company, and its biggest shareholder, Aluminum Corp. of China, said their exploration joint venture would firstly seek large copper deposits. Coal and potash are among secondary targets, London-based Rio said in a statement. Chinalco, as the state-owned Chinese aluminum producer is known, and Rio formally signed the joint venture agreement in Beijing after it was announced in December. Rio Chief Executive Officer Tom Albanese said last year he wants to help China explore for domestic deposits. The deal was part of efforts to improve relations after Rio rejected Chinalco's proposed $19.5 billion investment in June 2009. “Security of supply of key minerals is an issue of the highest importance for China,” Albanese said in Beijing. “Rio Tinto wishes to be a strategic partner to China in the supply, development and also the discovery of those resources.” Chinalco will control 51 percent of the venture with Rio holding the balance. The venture is expected to be based in Beijing.

The global copper-mining industry needs to expand to new regions if producers are to bring supply back into line with unprecedented demand, according to a mining- studies group in Chile, the world's largest producer. So far, the industry's reaction to record prices has been slow because of declining ore grades, the need for deeper mines and higher costs, Juan Carlos Guajardo, executive director of the Center for Copper & Mining Studies, said. The global copper market faces a 377,000-metric-ton deficit this year, according to the International Copper Study Group, as demand, led by China and other emerging markets, outpaces supply. Since mining is a long-term industry, more time is needed to reach a new equilibrium in the copper market. By 2015, a further 2.1 million tonnes of capacity is needed. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto Group had also earlier assessed that new supply was particularly dependent on opening up so-called greenfield projects and is moving to higher-risk regions. Copper is used in pipes and wires. Demand has jumped as China builds more infrastructure and emerging-market consumers buy more appliances. Demand from China's power industry may expand 5 percent this year, while transport-industry use may grow as much as 10 percent, Mark Loveitt, secretary-general of the International Wrought Copper Council, said. There have been “significant production disappointments” in the global copper industry over the past five years driven by falling ore grades, power and water shortages, strikes and extreme weather events, UBS AG said in a report. As a result, mining companies are targeting mergers and acquisitions rather than developing new sites.

Vale SA, the world's biggest iron-ore producer, won backing for its $1.1 billion bid for Metorex Ltd. from the target's biggest shareholder, increasing support for a takeover of the African copper producer to at least 40 percent. Backing from South Africa's state lender adds to support Vale had obtained from the holders of 25.8 percent of Metorex when it announced the bid on April 8. Vale, based in Rio de Janeiro, is seeking to boost output of copper almost fivefold to 1 million tonnes by 2015, betting prices will extend gains. The 7.35 rand ($1.08) bid for Metorex would give Vale the Ruashi copper and cobalt open-pit mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the company is also developing the Lubembe and Dilala projects.

Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel plans to resume shipments from its Arctic port of Dudinka soon after flooding prompted a seasonal halt recently. The port of Dudinka, its main export outlet, will resume shipments soon. Every year, Norilsk stops loading nickel, copper and cobalt for export when the ice cover breaks and causes flooding at the mouth of the Yenisei River, where Dudinka is located. The closure disrupts the supply of concentrate to Norilsk's refineries on the Kola peninsula. Norilsk is the world's largest nickel miner and the biggest copper producer in Russia. About 4.5 million tonnes of goods, mostly metals from Norilsk, pass through Dudinka every year.

Coro Mining Corp. announced that it has entered into an option agreement to acquire the Berta Property from a local Chilean claim owner. The 506 hectare property hosts porphyry copper style mineralization and is located approximately 20km west of the village of Inca de Oro in the III Region of Chile, at an elevation of 1700m.
The Inca de Oro porphyry copper project being developed by PanAust and Codelco, which has a published indicated resource of 180.5 million tonnes at 0.45% Cu + 0.15g/t Au, is located adjacent to the village of the same name. Anglo American's Manto Verde operating copper mine is located 33km to the northwest of Berta, and Far West Mining's Santo Domingo project currently being acquired by Capstone Mining and Korea Resources Corporation for approximately $725 million, is located 30km to the northeast. Coro may acquire 100% of the Berta property for a total of US$6,000,000
Alan Stephens, President and CEO of Coro, commented, "We are very pleased to have identified and acquired the Berta property on reasonable terms. The previous work has demonstrated that significant potential exists for a copper project meeting our criteria and we intend to initiate a reverse circulation drilling program to confirm this as soon as a drill rig can be procured. Assuming positive results and drill rig availability, we anticipate completing an initial resource estimate within 12 months.”

The Board of Western Areas exported over 100,000 tonnes of high grade nickel concentrate from Esperance Port to Jinchuan in China. This represents a gross value of over US$300 million based on average nickel prices since shipping commenced. Nickel concentrate is transported from Western Areas' processing plant at Forrestania to Esperance in sealed containers which are shipped directly to China. Sealed containers meet the highest environmental standards for handling and transporting concentrate and Western Areas now has over 1200 containers available for exporting. In addition to the contract to sell a total 25,000 tonnes of nickel in concentrate to Jinchuan, Western Areas has a contract to sell 10,000 tpa nickel in concentrate to BHP Billiton. A separate agreement to sell oxide and transitional ore from the Spotted Quoll mine to Minara Resources in Western Australia is also set. Over 3,500 tonnes of nickel in ore were mined from Flying Fox and Spotted Quoll and 2,379 tonnes of nickel in concentrate were produced in May.

Tin futures had a good year following extreme production trouble in major producing countries and soaring demand. Even though the market has been on the back foot since the commodities sell-off, experts anticipate higher prices of the metal.
Tin prices have fallen almost 25 percent from the peaks it scaled during April 2011 at the London Metal Exchange, but is expected to find technical support at Rs.24000 per tonne, said analysts.
Tin price performance in the recent months were in contrast with other base metals such as copper, zinc lead etc have gained enough strength to recover some of their earlier losses. Chinese destocking efforts have affected the market sentiments, but it is expected to wind up soon.
Hostile weather conditions and unfriendly government policies towards mining in Indonesia, the largest exporter of the metal, was one of the major concerns in the market. But the conditions have improved and exports from the country picked in the first quarter of 2011. Export from Indonesia was seen rising 37.6 percent during the month of March alone, followed by a 22 percent increase in April.In addition, the newly formed government in the Democratic Republic of Congo has signed decree which requires the government to disclose all the natural resources contracts that are signed. Congo accounts for 5-7 percent of the global tin production. The recent run up in tin stocks at the London Metal Exchange also weighed on the sentiments of tin.

Copper Mountain Mining Corporation announced the completion of its processing plant construction and is scheduled for production. Mining is proceeding as planned and has been delivering ore to the primary crusher since mid April. The Company has been stock piling ore as part of preproduction mining activities. The coarse ore stock pile at the mill has in excess of 190,000 tonnes of mill feed that has been crushed in the Company's new primary crusher. On May 28, 2011 the commissioning of the mill was started with the first ore being processed. With the mechanical equipment adjustments completed, production had commenced on June 4, 2011. Full production will be achieved by mid June.

Zinc prices have slowed down and trades at discount following the decision to postpone the strike of close to 7000 workers at the zinc miner Exxaro, according to the South African National Union of Mineworkers.The workers had scheduled the strike to protest against the company's reformation plan, which also includes cutting jobs.
Exxaro was noted saying that it plans to cut about 300 jobs by November of this year to reduce costs and raise efficiency at the plants. In addition to this development, the US dollar was seen rising against the European currency due to the steadily falling market.
The recent economic data releases were also not in favour of industrial metals, which thrive on economic expansion. China, the largest consumer of the metal, saw its trade surplus narrowed by 33 percent towards $13.1 billion.
Chinese monetary policy has also not been friendly towards the industry, with lesser availability of credit. However, reports claim that the demand is likely to rise from the month of September owing to the government's plan to build 10 million low priced homes this year.The economic conditions in the west are worse, as promises of economic recovery are getting farther away from their goal. The shadows of debt troubles in European Union, ailing unemployment and housing sectors of the US are getting bigger by the day, putting industrial metals in a difficult spot. According to the International Lead and Zinc Study Group, zinc market was in a surplus of 111,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2011.

Mining company Kazakhmys, announced an agreement with the China Development Bank to borrow $1.5bn (£920m) for developing a large copper project in eastern Kazakhstan.
The Aktogay mine, one of the company's two main growth projects, along with its Bozshakol mine should account for 60% of total production.The miner already has a $2.7bn loan facility with the bank.
"We are delighted to be developing our relationship further with China Development Bank," said Oleg Novachuk, Kazakhmys' chief executive. The funding will allow the company to develop Aktogay and yet retain full ownership of the asset. Kazakhmys, listed on the London Stock Exchange, is one of the biggest mining companies in the world, with interests in copper, gold, zinc and silver.

Global demand growth for copper is expected to slow to 8.4 percent in 2011-12, slowing substantially from the average growth of 16.4 percent between 2005-2010, the International Wrought Copper Council (IWCC) said. China's demand for the red metal, used extensively in the electrical manufacturing, construction and power sectors, is expected to grow by 7 percent this year, down from a double-digit growth in 2010, the general secretary of the International Wrought Copper Council Mark Loveitt said. The IWCC, which represents copper fabricators such as wire and tube makers worldwide, said the short-term outlook for copper remains uncertain as high prices were encouraging end-users to run down their inventories. Consumers were also reluctant to hold unnecessary inventories. Prices at current levels have also prompted end-users in some sectors to either substitute copper with aluminium or to use smaller and thinner components, Loveitt said at an industry conference in Shanghai. On China, which accounts for about 40 percent of global consumption, Lovevitt said it was uncertain if the world's largest consumer would undergo a large-scale restocking in the second-half of this year. Great uncertainties about the global economy mean many end-users are unable to form a price view for the coming months, so they may continue to buy on a hand-to-mouth basis. While some analysts have recently turned bullish on China's import demand for copper due to a steady decline in stocks held at warehouses monitored at the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), others said the fall could have been due to an increase in exports instead of improved underlying demand, the conference heard.

Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation (ADBIC), an industrial development and investment company wholly-owned by the Abu Dhabi Government's General Holding Corporation (GHC), and Gulf Extrusions, an Al Ghurair Group company, have signed a joint-venture (JV) agreement to set up Taweelah Aluminium Extrusion Company in Abu Dhabi. The Joint-Venture was signed by Eng. Jamal Salem Al Dhaheri, CEO of ADBIC and Majid Al Ghurair, CEO of Al Ghurair Group of Companies.
Taweelah Aluminium Extrusion Company will invest USD200 million in setting up a state-of-the-art Aluminium Extrusion plant, which will be the first of its kind in the MENA region and also the first industrial project to be launched in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad) after the Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) smelter. Kizad, with its massive 417 sqkm of prime industrial land and world-class facilities, is conveniently located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and is a statement of intent by the Government of Abu Dhabi, creating a wealth of opportunities on a global scale. This 50,000 metric tons facility will be built on a 235,000 square meters plot of land adjacent to EMAL smelter, one of the largest greenfield aluminium smelter ever built, and one of the largest industrial projects in the UAE outsidethe oil and gas sector. The feedstock of liquid aluminum and aluminum billets will be supplied by EMAL.
Taweelah Aluminium Extrusion Company will invest in world-class extrusion equipment and will produce a diversified product range of aluminum extruded profiles, fabricated profiles as well as substructures and systems. The product range will be unique for any extruder in the region as it will cater to the industrial, automotive and transportation sectors as well as to the top end building and construction projects, meeting the most stringent standards of local, regional and international customers.
"This project with a strong and well established UAE Group puts UAE generated know-how and manufacturing excellence on the international map and will unlock new international markets." said Eng. Jamal Al Dhaheri, CEO of ADBIC. He added, "This is one of a series of industrial projects by ADBIC and an example of the public-private partnership model pursued by us. I look forward to a successful long term partnership with Al Ghurair Group and will continue to build on this foundation with EMAL and Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad) to attract investments, promote the industrial sector, anddiversify the economy in line with the directives and guidance of our esteemed leadership".

Ural Mining, also known as UMMC, increased production by 12 percent to 369,043 tonnes of refined copper. Norilsk, Russia's largest mining company, reported a 4 percent drop in domestic refined-copper output to 365,698 tons as ore grades declined. UMMC, based in Verknaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk region, has increased copper production to take advantage of surging prices for the metal used in cables and pipes. Copper rose more than 30 percent last year and peaked at $10,160 a ton on February 14 as Chinese demand climbed. Prices will average $11,500 in 2012, Deutsche Bank AG said in a report recently. UMMC is seeking to boost output by 3 percent this year to 380,000 tonnes and may increase sales by as much as 20 percent should current prices hold until year-end. Net income advanced almost nine-fold to 21.1 billion rubles ($751 million) last year, while sales rose 45 percent to 156.4 billion rubles. The scheduled opening of a new plant in December will increase UMMC's refining capacity by a quarter to 500,000 tonnes a year. UMMC has earmarked 34.9 billion rubles of capital spending this year, mainly for copper. Norilsk's total copper production, including from units in Finland and Africa, totaled 388,872 tonnes last year, still higher than UMMC's output.