Impurity levels in lead for MF and VRLA batteries : Recent ALABC observations

While the two Central PSUs- Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and National Aluminium Company (Nalco) have evinced interest in picking up stakes in two firms run by Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Idcol) - Idcol Ferrochrome and Alloys Ltd (IFAL) and Idcol Kalinga Iron Works Ltd (IKIWL), the Orissa government has decided to appoint a transaction advisor for restructuring of these two firms. The transaction advisor would also manage the process of disinvestment of the IFAL and IKIWL.
While the modernization of IFAL needs Rs 250 crore, the same for IKWL is pegged at Rs 2500 crore. It has also been decided to go for revaluation of the assets of Kalinga Weavers' Cooperative Spinning Mills- Dhenkanal and Orissa Cooperative Spinning Mills-Bargarh. These decisions were taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) chaired by state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The decisions come close on the heels of the meeting of the Public and Cooperative Enterprises Restructuring Committee (PCERC) on September 23, 2010 under the chairman of the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik.
At this meeting, it was decided that IDCOL would continue to negotiate with the Central PSUs for the disinvestment of IFA and IKWL. The CCD may take a view on the issue of transfer of mines in favour of IFAL and IKIWL. Alternatively, the prospective bidders may enter into a long-term agreement for supply of iron ore with IDCOL for secured supply of the raw material.
Meanwhile, the CCD has decided to appoint a valuator for revaluation of the assets of the two spinning mills- Kalinga Weavers' Cooperative Spinning Mills (Kalicospin)- Dhenkanal and Orissa Cooperative Spinning Mills (Oricospin)-Bargarh. The bidding process will be done afresh for the sale of assets of these two mills.
The department of public enterprises of the state government had advertised for the sale of assets of Kalicospin on November 30, 2007. Six bidders had submitted their bids and commercial bids of four shortlisted parties were opened on February 8, 2008.
After due procedure on January 15, 2009, the CCD had approved the offer of Oriental Agency, the highest bidder and had decided to sell the assets of Kalicospin to Oriental Agency at a consideration of Rs 6.16 crore as one-time payment. Subsequently, Oriental Agency backed out and the CCD on August 11, 2009 approved the sale in favour of the second highest bidder- Hindustan Pulverising Mills with a condition to raise the price quote from Rs 5.74 crore to Rs 6.16 crore. However, Hindustan Pulverising Mills did not agree to the proposal.
The bid of the third highest bidder- Ruhatiya Spinners Ltd was not considered due to a legal notice for refund of Earnest Money Deposit (EMD). The fourth highest bidder- Rajshree Vanijya Pvt Ltd had agreed to pay Rs 6.16 crore for the assets of Kalicospin.
The PCERC on August 6 this year had found that the tenders submitted by the bidders for the assets of Kalicospin were not acceptable.

Latest copper concentrate shipments of listed firm Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. increased in volume and value, the firm said in a disclosure. The miner, through subsidiary Carmen Copper Corp., which operates the Toledo copper mine in Cebu, shipped 5,617.18 wet metric tons (MT) of copper concentrates to China on Sept. 16. The shipment was estimated to have a value of $10.7 million. The previous shipment to China on Aug. 12 weighed 5,502.36 wet MT, sold for an estimated $10.22 million. The latest shipment contained 27.55% copper, 2.59 grams of gold per dry MT and 25.51 grams of silver per dry MT. It was the miner's 13th shipment for the year.
In September, George J. Bujtor, Carmen Copper Corp. executive director, told reporters that this year, the firm aims to ship a total of 120,000 wet MT of copper concentrates estimated to be worth around $200 million. He said the firm is aiming at a daily output of 50,000 MT in the first quarter of 2011. Current daily output at the mine is around 36,000 MT to 40,000 MT, while optimum processing output is at 42,000 MT.
Atlas reported a turnaround of P459.66 million in profit in the first half of 2010 from a loss of P1.17 billion in the same period last year due to higher production at its Toledo mine.

Hindustan Copper, India's sole miner of the metal, plans to sell excavated waste rock used to lay roads and railway tracks, raising as much as Rs 6,000 crore ($1.3 billion), traders estimate. The company is seeking buyers for about 200 million metric tonnes of rocks accumulated over the past four decades from mines at the Malanjkhand copper complex in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, said chairman Shakeel Ahmed. The waste sells for Rs 200- 300 a tonne, according to local rock traders and road consultants. “They'll sell like hot cakes and should generate good money for us,” Mr Ahmed said, without giving a price estimate ahead of the company's planned share sale. “The large quantities of rock wastes had gone unnoticed and the money could be used to meet our expansion needs.”
Ahmed, who turned Hindustan Copper profitable after taking charge in October, is looking for untapped resources to help expand capacity more than six-fold to 20 million tonne by 2015. The sale of waste would account for almost five times Hindustan Copper's revenue in the last financial year.
The government, which owns 99.6 percent of Hindustan Copper, plans to sell a 10% stake, while the company will sell an equivalent proportion of new shares. The company posted a profit of Rs 155 crore in the year ended March 31 from a loss of Rs 10.3 crore the previous year. Sales rose 9 percent to Rs 1,300 crore. Demand for waste rock is rising as India aims to spend Rs 1,740 crore this fiscal to upgrade roads, railways and other infrastructure.
“The infrastructure projects have pushed up demand for rocks and prices are likely to remain high in the coming months,” said R. Vidya, the owner of Blue Aggregates, a supplier of rocks to road and airport builders. “It's pretty much a supplier's market today.” Hindustan Copper plans to select buyers of the rocks by December and clear it by the end of the next fiscal, Mr Ahmed said.

The India Lead Zinc Development Association (ILZDA) had organized a National Conference on Lead Batteries and Zinc Batteries at New Delhi during 27-18 September 2010, in association with Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Environment & Forests and Central Pollution Control Board; the event was co-sponsored by a number of stakeholders of the Indian battery industry. Technology, Environment and Markets were the focus areas during the deliberations. The event was attended by 125 delegates from India and abroad. The conference began with a welcome and opening remarks by L Pugazhenthy, Executive Director, India Lead Zinc Development Association. This was followed by Special Remarks by K P Nyati, CEO, Sustainable Mining Initiatives and formerly Head, Environment Management Divn, CII.
Four keynote presentations were made by Dr David Wilson, Director, International Lead Association, Brian Wilson, Programme Manager, International Lead Management Centre, Mark Stevenson, Chairman Asian Battery Conference & Technical Marketing Manager-Asia, Ecobat Technologies and Dr Dr Thuppil Venkatesh, Principal Advisor, National Referral Center for the Prevention of Lead Absorption (formerly NRCLPI). In addition, 15 technical presentations were made by specialist speakers from the industry, research organizations, consultants etc.

Sterlite Industries welcomed the Supreme Court order staying the Madras High Court directive to it to shut down its copper smelting plant here for violating environmental norms and said action to restart production would be taken after the District Administration and state get copies of court orders. "We are happy the Supreme Court has granted a stay till Oct 18 when the matter will come up for further hearing. Employees, contractors, vendors, suppliers and customers are very happy on the interim stay," said Kishore Kumar, Chief Executive Officer. He said procedural action to recommence production would be taken after the District Administration and Tamil Nadu pollution control board get copies of court orders. Ramesh Nair, Chief Operating Officer said the company wished to thank the public of for supporting them.

Even as the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has rejected the stage-II forest clearance for the Niyamgiri bauxite mining project and slapped a showcause notice on its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh, billionaire Anil Agarwal controlled Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) is committed to its refinery project and has no plans to pull out from the state. Orissa has around two billion tonnes of bauxite reserves which is higher than the bauxite deposits of any other state in the country. There is no question of VAL relocating its alumina refinery as we believe that the aluminium industry can flourish only in Orissa. Mukesh Kumar, CEO of the company, called on the state steel and mines secretary Manoj Ahuja and apprised the latter of the response submitted by the company to the show cause notice slapped by MoEF. Asked if the state government would allot alternative bauxite mines to VAL, Ahuja said, “The matter is being examined and a decision will be taken as per the rules and procedures. There is no specific timeline on the allotment of alternative mines to Vedanta Aluminium.” As per the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed between the state government and the company, the state had assured to make arrangements for supply of 150 million tonnes of bauxite. The bauxite mines at Niyamgiri hills had reserves of 75 million tonnes which would last for four years as VAL had announced to scale up capacity of its refinery from one million tonne (mtpa) per annum to six mtpa and the company needed 18 mtpa of bauxite to meet its capacity expansion. In the aftermath of the rejection of stage-II forest clearance for bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills, VAL had sought alternative bauxite mines. Out of seven alternative bauxite mines sought by Vedanta, five were in Rayagada district with the remaining two in Kalahandi district.

The Supreme Court has allowed Sterlite Industries, majority owned by billionaire Anil Agarwal's London-based Vedanta Resoureces Plc, to continue operations at a copper plant in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district till October 18, providing a reprieve to the metal company that has been battered by one setback after another in the last two months. On September 28, the High Court had ordered closure of the Tuticorin plant for violating environmental norms.
“There would be a stay on the judgement of the high court. List it on October 18 for hearing,” said a bench comprising Justice RV Raveendran and Justice HL Gokhale. The Supreme Court passed the interim order after senior advocate CA Sundaram, on behalf of Sterlite Industries, argued for a stay on the high court order, saying the company would be adversely impacted. “We are happy that Honourable Supreme Court has granted stay till October 18,” said a Sterlite spokesperson.
Sterlite Industries, in which Vedanta Resources owns 59 percent stake, had approached the apex court saying the company was not given a proper hearing and that its submissions were ignored by the Madras High Court. The closure of the Tuticorin plant came as yet another blow to Agarwal, shortly after the government blocked mining of bauxite meant for his group's alumina refinery in Orissa. Subsequently, the government ordered an expansion programme in the refinery to be stopped.

Sterlite Industries has shut the world's No. 9 copper smelter on a court order over environmental issues, the latest blow to India projects for its parent Vedanta. The Tuticorin plant in South India produced over 334,000 tonnes of copper cathode in the year to March 2010, almost half of India's total output of over 683,000 tonnes, and its closure helped push international copper prices to five-month highs. As a consequence, Sterlite's first-half attributable core earnings (before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) could be hit to the tune of $67 million. The closure of the smelter could hit sentiment around Sterlite more than actual income. London-listed Vedanta, whose business focuses on India, has already run into obstacles in other projects in the country. The government rejected its plans to mine bauxite in Orissa over environmental concerns, and at the beginning of this month the environment ministry said it had found “serious violations” of green laws at its alumina refinery in eastern India. Vedanta is also trying to push through a $9.5 billion acquisition of a major stake in Cairn India, a unit of London-listed Cairn Energy India's environment ministry is taking an increasingly proactive stance on projects and tightening rules on existing mines and plants in the country, which is gobbling up resources to feed its economic growth. Under Indian law, Sterlite could appeal the High Court order in the Supreme Court. The Liberum Capital analysts said the company had told them it intended to appeal the suspension.

India's copper consumption is forecast to rise 15 per cent, the decade's highest, on phenomenal growth in end-use sectors such as electricity, consumer electronics, industrial machinery, equipment and construction. The consumption growth is expected to de-accelerate in 2011 to eight per cent, reports said. According to the latest report by credit rating agency Icra, copper use in the country is expected to grow to 650,000 tonnes by the end of the current calendar year as compared to 565,000 tonnes last year. Total copper consumption is estimated to rise to 720,000 tonnes in 2011. Between 2000 and 2009, consumption of the red metal increased 9.7 per cent annually. By comparison, consumption declined 0.1 per cent in 2008. The slow growth in consumption was primarily because of limited domestic capacity and supply, high import duties on concentrate and finished products, inadequate investments in telecom and power infrastructure, and high prices. Consumption growth was high till 2007, but declined in 2008 and 2009 because of a price rally and the slowdown in industrial production and construction activity. Even during the peak economic downturn of 2009, consumption rose 9.5 per cent to an estimated 564,000 tonnes, driven mainly by huge infrastructure spending and continuous growth in the manufacturing sector. The annual per capita consumption of copper in India is 0.47 kg.

Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) will increase production to over one million metric tonnes by the end of this year, said a top company official. During a meeting of the System analyse und Programme System Analysis & Program development (SAP) Executive Advisory Council for Metals in Dubai, Ahmad Al Mulla, Vice President of Information Technology at Dubal, said: "Dubal has the capacity to produce more than one million metric tonnes of high quality primary aluminium products this year."Dubal, a key contributor to Dubai's economy, is one of the largest aluminium smelters in the world and its full production capacity is made to order and shipped to more than 280 customers in 44 countries. It's key markets are in the Far East and Mediterranean regions, and North America.
Dubal's smelting capacity has grown from 135,000 metric tonnes per annum when it started in 1979 to a current one million metric tonnes.
"The capacity of our casting operations has expanded in parallel: from an initial 490 metric tonnes per annum it has grown 159.39 per cent to a current 1,271,000 metric tonnes per annum, which makes it the largest in the world," he said.
Dubal is looking forward to producing more than 2.5 million tonnes of aluminium per year by 2015, making it one of the top five aluminium producers in the world.

Integrated Coal Mining (ICML), owned by the Rs 17,000-crore RPG Group, inked a 20-year offshore coal procurement contract with Australian coal miner Resource Generation (RGL). The coal will feed future greenfield projects of RPG flagship CESC. ICML also has plans to acquire a 10 percent stake (18,268,053 shares) in RGL for about A$ 0.575 per share, aggregating to A$10.5 million (approximately Rs 45 crore). ICML is now controlled by Sanjiv Goenka, vice-chairman, RPG Enterprises.
In notices to NSE, Bombay, Calcutta, London and Luxembourg stock exchanges, CESC, which owns a shade below 26 percent in ICML, said: “An agreement had been signed on Tuesday for ICML to purchase 37 million tonne of coal over 20 years from RGL's Boikarabelo mine. The coal will meet the requirements of CESC and/or its sponsored projects.” The Boikarabelo mine is in South Africa's Waterberg region, once the country's largest coal deposit.
“CESC has serious ambitions in power and this is part of a strategy to tie up the fuel so that we can invest in the power sector. The coal will feed a greenfield CESC venture that I'm not in a position to announce yet. It will not be meant for CESC's existing greenfields where coal linkages are already in place,” he added
Under the terms of the contract, “ICML, CESC, will purchase 1 million tonnes of thermal coal per annum for a block of three years and 2 million tonnes per annum for a further 17 years.

The potential of non-oil underground resources, such as aluminium ore and other minerals, is boosting interest in the Kingdom's mining sector. Saudi Arabia is on the verge of a non-hydrocarbons boom, Dr Abdullah Al Dabbagh, president and chief executive officer of the Kingdom's largest mining firm, Ma'aden, told OBG. He said there is potential at both extraction and downstream level, with value-added opportunities for a number of industries.
"Saudi Arabia is a world leader in the petrochemicals industry but the country needs to develop a chemicals industry based on minerals generated from mining," he added. "Once the chemicals industry develops, the synergy between petrochemicals and chemicals will be profound."
Dr Al Dabbagh said Ma'aden's experience in breaking ground for other firms has demonstrated the true potential of the Saudi mining sector.
"Ma'aden has shown that the mining industry is viable here and this will encourage private companies to invest," he said. "By diversifying raw material inputs from oil and gas, we will see more industrial applications and investment."
One of Ma'aden's major projects is a partnership with global aluminium giant Alcoa to develop a top-ranking aluminium industry in Saudi Arabia. A $10bn project, based around an integrated industrial complex at Ras Al Zour on the east coast, will include an aluminium refinery with an initial capacity of 1.8m tonnes per year (tpy). The complex will be fed by the resources of the massive bauxite deposits at Al Ba'itha, in the north of the Kingdom, which will produce at least 4m tonnes of ore annually.
The project is picking up speed, with contracts worth around $275m awarded at the end of August to supply equipment for the plant's rolling mill, which, along with the smelter, will be operational in 2013. The plant will use imported raw materials until the first production from the mine begins in 2014.
Also promoting the potential of downstream mining industries is Dr. Zohair Nawab, president of the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), the state-backed organisation tasked with mapping and helping to identify mineral reserves across the Kingdom.
"The discovery of new mineral resources can create entirely new industries in the Kingdom," he told OBG. "For example, our phosphate deposits have the potential to make Saudi Arabia one of the top five producers of phosphate. We are developing these deposits to produce an important commodity, diammonium phosphate (DAP) which is a fertiliser. The growing world population requires more and more fertilisers."
The Deputy Ministry for Mineral Resources (DMMR) is also a stakeholder in the sector, acting to regulate and promote investment in the Kingdom's mining industry. Saudi Arabia also seems well placed to meet many of the region's mineral demands, with reserves of iron ore, zinc, copper and gold along with granite, limestone and dolomite. By developing its mining industry Saudi Arabia will achieve another objective of the government - bolstering the private sector.
According to Dr Said J Al Qahtani, president of Central Mining Company Investment Ltd (CMCI), the growing private sector involvement in mining will help further diversify the economy and enhance local expertise.

ET reported that global aluminium prices have recovered from their recent lows. But the recovery may be short lived given the availability of low-cost aluminium from smelters in the West Asia. Cheaper aluminium is also expected to impact Indian smelters including Hindalco and NALCO.
Production capacity has increased considerably in the West Asia in the past decade and more capacity additions are expected in the near future. Cheap gas from oil refineries makes the region an ideal place to set up power intensive aluminium plants.
The regional capacity is expected to touch 4.2 million tonne per annum by 2013 from the current 3.3 million tonne per annum. Companies like Qatalum and Dubal are aggressively expanding their capacity to meet future demand. India's current capacity is close to 2 million tonne per annum.
Energy accounts for a quarter of the production cost of aluminium. With the help of cheaper gas supply, aluminium smelters in West Asia can bring down this cost to less than 10%. This serves as a great advantage compared to smelters in Europe which has some of the highest electricity prices in the world. Chinese producers, who account for nearly one third of the world's total aluminium capacity, also face difficulty in securing low cost electricity from coal fired power stations.
Hence in the long run, the low cost smelting capacity in West Asia may put a cap on aluminium prices. However, prices may rise in the immediate future. According to Navneet Dhamani senior research analyst at Anand Rathi Research, fund based buying may underpin aluminium prices in the short term. At present 70% of the LME aluminium inventory is tied up with financial contracts. This inventory is not available for sale in the short term. Therefore, aluminium prices may inch higher from current levels.
The rate of increase in LME inventories is slowing following the production cuts. This has also supported prices to a certain extent. Companies like Hindalco and NALCO are likely to see the impact of cheap aluminium from West Asia.