National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) is set to enhance its aluminum production by 20 percent to 4.35 lakh tons for the current fiscal over the year-ago period. The state-run company's aluminium production was stood at 3.61 lakh tons in the last fiscal.
Under the terms of agreement signed by NALCO with the ministry of Mines in March 2009, the aluminium major will have to produce 4.35 lakh tons of aluminium in the current fiscal, as against 3.61 lakh tons in the previous financial year, said Mines Minister B K Handique recently.
The PSU is looking to produce 1.8 million tons of alumina in the current fiscal as against 1.5 million tons produced in the previous fiscal, he said. However, the company also aimed an 18 percent growth in bauxite production to 5.5 million tons for the current fiscal. The bauxite out put in the last fiscal stood at 4.7 million tons. In addition to the mineral, NALCO aims to generate 6,510 million units in the current fiscal as compared to 5,541 million units in FY'09.

Ess Dee is in talk to buy Comital, an Italian packing company, for $125-150 million. The Indian packing firm had recently acquired the Vedanta group's foil firm which doubled its domestic production capacity to around 37,000 tons per annum. Comital is majority owned by Borsa Italiana, the Milan stock exchange-listed investment group Management & Capitali. Comital group had revenues of $403 million for the year ended December'08, almost five times that of Ess Dee Aluminium. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is one of the investment bankers involved in the transaction. The acquisition will give Ess Dee a significant presence in Europe. A little less than two thirds of overall revenues for Comital come out of Italian market with rest of Europe accounting for another third. It has limited exposure outside of European continent. Beside global expansion Comital would also build exposure in consumer packaging business for Ess Dee Aluminium. The proposed acquisition of Comital would give it a firm footing in the consumer products packaging business in which it has a relatively small presence. Ess Dee generates most of his revenues from pharmaceutical industry with global clients. The home products division of Comital accounts for 60 percent of the overall revenues of the company. Beside of home products, Comital is in production of aluminum sheets, flexible packaging and metallic yearns, which are used in various sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food packing, and construction, clothing and industrial applications. On the flip side, for Ess Dee, the deal would bring additional risks. Ess Dee's domestic business is largely dependent on demand growth in FMCG and pharmaceuticals, two sectors which have been less affected by the economic slowdown. The proposed deal with Comital will make it overdependent on the European market which has been severely affected by the global economic slowdown

The legal roadblock the government was facing in selling its residual 29.5 percent stake in Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) has been removed, with the withdrawal of a public interest suit before the Supreme Court challenging the government's decision to sell its stakes in the company.
The application, filed in 2003, was withdrawn by the petitioner this May, without giving any reason. When asked, a spokesperson for Sterlite Industries, which controls Hindustan Zinc, said, “There is now no legal roadblock for the government in selling its residual stake at market price.” Hindustan Zinc's market capitalisation is Rs 23,440 crore at today's market price and the government would net at least Rs 6,195 crore if it goes ahead with the sale of its residual stake in the company. On a standalone basis, Sterlite has around Rs 9,000 crore on its books, which it can use to buy the residual stake.
HZL reported sales of Rs 5,680 crore and net profit of Rs 2,728 crore in the last financial year. The government had sold a 26 percent stake in HZL in 2002 to Sterlite for Rs 445 crore at Rs 40.5 a share. Besides, Sterlite got two call options to buy out the residual 48.4 percent government stake in trenches. And, going by the guidelines of Securities and Exchange Board of India, Sterlite also made an open offer to acquire an additional 20 percent stake from the public in April 2002. In August 2003, Sterlite exercised its first call option and acquired an 18.9 percent government stake for Rs 325 crore. But in 2004, the talks got derailed after the Attorney General (AG) said the call option given by the government to Sterlite for acquiring 49 percent stake in another company, Bharat Aluminium (BALCO), was illegal. The issue is now headed for arbitration next month. The talks over HZL were also suspended, though the AG said the government could sell the residual stake there at market price. But there has been no consensus on the price yet. The court petition complicated matters further

Undeterred by losses of over Rs 1,700 crore, Tatas-owned Jaguar Land Rover will launch a number of new models, including hybrids, in the coming years and has plans to roll out all its future cars with light-weight aluminium bodies for reducing carbon emissions.
"Several new models are under development and will be released in the market in the coming years. These will widen the project range and re-energise the range," Tata Group chief Ratan Tata said in Tata Motors Annual Report for 2008-09. Some new models of Land Rover would also be introduced in the coming years, he added. On introducing new technologies at JLR, Tata said, “JLR is planning to have all its future cars constructed with light weight aluminum bodies resulting in considerable savings in weight, and reduction in CO2 emissions.” Important new technology development programmes at JLR include the development of a hybrid power train which will be introduced in future models of Jaguar and Land Rover." JLR has recently launched the new premier sedan XJ from Jaguar stable, deliveries of which would start from next year. The company also aims to create the next iconic sports cars to rekindle the glory of this venerable brand. The two British marquees had made a loss of Rs 1,777.35 crore (before interest, exceptional items and tax) in 2008-09 due to global meltdown, while the income from JLR sales stood at Rs 39,270.70 crore. It had also laid off over 2,000 staff.

Acute coal crisis has forced National Aluminium Company (NALCO) to shut down one 120 MW unit of its captive power plant (CPP) at Angul. This has cut down power supply to the company's smelter at the same location by about 90 MW resulting in 13.6 percent reduction in daily aluminium output. Faced with short supply of coal from the Mahanadi Coalfield Limited (MCL), the company authorities shut down one unit of its 960 MW CPP recently. The CPP has a total of eight units. This has reduced supply of power to the company smelter, also at Angul, by about 90 MW. As a result, the aluminium output has come from an average of 1100 ton per day to about 950 ton. NALCO, at present, is operating 735 pots in the smelter keeping another five as stand by, official sources said. With the crisis deepening an emergent meeting was held between NALCO and MCL officials at Talcher to carve out steps to save the power plant which had recently begun power generation from all the eight units instead of seven earlier to meet the excess demand arising out of expansion of smelter plant capacity. “It will take five to six days to restore the eighth unit after coal supply is resumed on expected line”, said an official. He said that it was decided in the meeting with the MCL officials that the company will get 8,000 to 10,000 tons of coal per day from linked Bharatapur mine while another 7,000 ton coal will be made available by railway network from other mines in the Talcher coalfield. Keeping in view such exigencies, NALCO has decided to import 2.5 lakh ton of coal this year in addition to two lakh ton of coal for which order has already been placed. Out of the ordered coal, 50,000 tons of washed coal has reached the plant. Some imported coal has also arrived at Paradip port which awaits transportation to NALCO. NALCO sources said, they are importing coal to meet the gap in supply of local coal, but they cannot entirely run the CPP on imported coal as it would escalate the cost. The company uses imported coal in the plant after blending it with cheaper MCL coal at the ratio of 15; 85

Anil Agarwal-run Vedanta Resources Plc reported an increase in production of aluminium and zinc, copper, iron ore from its operations for the first quarter of 2009-10 financial year.
The company's aluminium production increased to 1.88 lakh tons, up 38.2 percent from the year-ago period. In the year-ago period, the metal and mining major produced 1.36 lakh tons of aluminium. The increase was primarily due to the ramp up and phased commissioning of the first phase of the 500 kilo ton per annum at the Jharsuguda aluminium smelter in Orissa, the company said in a statement. “We are in the process of starting the phased commissioning of the second phase of 250 ktpa for completion by end FY 2010. During Q1, we completely ramped down our BALCO Plant I aluminium smelter,” the company statement said.
The company said its mined zinc metal production was up by 17.4 percent at 1.62 lakh tons in the reporting quarter. The company produced 1.38 lakh tons of the metal in the first quarter of the last fiscal. It attributed the increase in zinc output to the commissioning of the new concentrator at its Rampura Agucha mines in Rajasthan. Vedanta Resources produces aluminium and zinc from its India-based units. The company's copper cathode production from Tuticorin smelter in India stood at 78,000 tons compared with 68,000 tons in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Cathode production was lower than its rated capacity, primarily on account of low copper in concentrate. During Q1, Vedanta's African subsidiary KCM produced 43,000 tons of copper cathodes, significantly higher than the production of 36,000 tons in the year-ago period.
Production benefited from the ramp up of the new Nchanga smelter and a 55 percent increase in production from the tailings leach plant to 14,000 tons. At Sesa Goa, production of iron ore in the first quarter was at 4.9 million tons, compared to 4.6 million tons in the year-ago quarter. The company said it has been selling surplus power in commercial power markets to optimise returns following the closure of our aluminium smelters at MALCO and BALCO Plant I.

World copper mine production rose 21 percent between 1999 and 2008 to 15.5 Million tons, the International Copper Study Group said.
China and India's annual refined production more than tripled over the full 10-year period, increasing by 2.6 million tons to 3.8 million tons and by 470,000 tons to 675,000 tons respectively. “Significant increases also occurred in Chile, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russian Federation and Zambia, that together added around 1 million tons of annual world refined production,” the Lisbon-based group said in a release.
In the United States, which had been the leading world producer in 1998, refined production fell by 41 percent - 865,000 tons - during the 10-year period, and it slipped to fourth position as a world producer of refined copper. Refined production in the EU-15 countries rose by 5 percent. Chinese consumption grew by about 3.7 million tons between 1999 and 2008. The global growth rate over the period excluding China was only 0.1 percent.

National Aluminium Company's (NALCO) four environment projects under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have been cleared by the Ministry of Forest and Environment.
The state-own company will pour Rs 11 crore in implementing the four projects cleared by the Union ministry, said the company. The Kyoto Protocol encouraged industries to earn 'carbon credit' through measures taken to reduce green house gas (GHG) emission.
The aluminium major had taken up four CDM projects in its smelter, CPP and refinery units where better technology would be used to further reduction of GHG, said the company source.
"Acceptance of environment norms is one of the requirements for registration of CDM projects," they said adding that NALCO had taken steps for engagement of designed operational entity which would validate the CDM projects. NALCO was one the few industries in the country for having initiated such steps

The world's largest copper consumer China's imports for June month of refined copper may fall to 300,000-320,000 tons against May's all time record of 337,230 ton due to the high prices in London Metal Exchange.
Imports of aluminium, including primary, alloy and semi-finished products, in June may also fall from May's imports on firm LME prices. Primary aluminium imports are expected to exceed 200,000 tons in June. Imports were 259,095 tons in May.
June's imports of refined copper should be over 300,000 tons as the arbitrage window opened for some days in May. Chinese importers often book spot copper imports for delivery within few weeks and that make the arrival behind the booking time.
Domestic demand has stayed lukewarm since June, weighing on domestic copper prices and increasing stocks of refined copper after record imports in previous four months. Spot refined copper traded around 39,000 yuan per ton in Shanghai this week. China is also the world's top producer of primary aluminum but Chinese merchants had booked more spot primary aluminium in late May when the arbitrage window opened. June's imports of primary aluminium should be above 200,000 tons

Gulf Extrusions, one of the largest aluminum extrusion companies in Gulf, is planning to build production plants in North Africa and Asia.
The company is seeking to diversify its markets and products due to the slowdown in the local construction sector. The UAE's construction boom had triggered the expansion of aluminum plants across the country, but demand has now dropped as developers suspend or cancel projects, encouraging producers to look for business overseas.
“We all know the construction boom has gone, some emirates still have projects, like Abu Dhabi, but with the huge capacity of our area, we need to find different markets,” said Robert Holtkamp, the director of sales and marketing at Gulf Extrusions.
The company is aiming for other sectors for its products, including the European car industry, added Holtkamp. “The thing that is very important for us is that we diversify our products and markets.”
Gulf extrusions, part of Al Ghurair Group, produces 65,000 tons of aluminium at its Dubai plant a year and is looking at boosting this by up to 30,000 through expansion into Pakistan, India , China and North Africa.
Still, Mr Holtkamp said the company had no plans to slim down its operations in the UAE. “We still have fairly good demand from the UAE. The panic situation is over and there have been signs of stabilisation,” he said. But the slowdown means the emirate will be scaling back on its ambitions to produce a million tonnes by next year. Dubai currently produces around 900,000 tons a year.
Demand for aluminium in the UAE in 2007 stood at 450,000 tons a year. “It will take a long time to restore 2007 levels,” said Holtkamp

Global miner BHP Billiton may start a study for the potential sale of its Ravensthorpe nickel operations in Australia after shutting down the $2.2 billion project in January.
"BHP Billiton will commence formal evaluation of divestment as a potential future option," said the company in a statement. The company closed the Ravensthorpe mine following falls in prices. BHP Billiton recently sold the Yabulu nickel refinery in Queensland

Australia's nickel producer Western Areas NL signed a two-year sales agreement with China's Jinchuan Group Ltd.
Jinchuan will buy as much as 25,000 metric tons of nickel in concentrate from the Forrestania project in Western Australia.
“The two-year contract with Jinchuan is consistent with Western Areas' plan to sell concentrate to major smelters within and outside Australia,” Managing Director Julian Hanna said. “We expect the agreement with China's largest nickel company will also provide Western Areas with exposure to one of the world's fastest growing markets.”

India's second largest aluminium producer National Aluminium Co. raised the price 5 percent after aluminum gained on London Metal Exchange.
The price was increased by Rs 5,000 a metric ton, with effective from July 22, Finance Director B. L. Bangra said. The price outlook is positive and improving, he added.
Aluminium prices jumped to the highest in almost nine months in Shanghai on 24 July after China imported more than 1 million tons refined aluminium in the first six months of this year. According to the China's custom office, the quantity was 16 times higher than the same period a year ago. Aluminium prices gained more than 20 percent since June 1 on the LME.
Demand for aluminium is gaining in India after the government declared it planned to spend Rs 1.79 trillion to build network of roads, telephone, electricity and irrigation in the fiscal year ending March 31

The US aluminium maker Alcoa reported a loss of $454m between April and June, third consecutive quarter of losses.
That followed a net loss of $497million in the previous three months and a net profit of $546m in the second quarter of 2008.
The economic downturn has hit Alcoa because with most of its customers come from hard-hit sectors such as car manufacturing, aerospace and construction.
It has responded to falling demand for aluminium by cutting 13,500 jobs, reducing its dividend and raising $1.3 billion to help it get through the recession. It has cut back production by about 20 percent

Sterlite Industries has raised $1.5 billion through an American depository Share (ADS) issue, with a green shoe option of $150 million. An ADS is a vehicle that overseas companies can use to list their equity shares on US stock exchanges like NYSE or NASDAQ.
In the case of Sterlite's issue, while $1 billion came through institutional investors, the balance $500 million came from the parent, Vedanta. Sterlite plans to use the funds for a multitude of purposes—expansion of its various businesses and for acquisitions. Post this issue, Sterlite will have a net cash of $3.25 billion in its books. At a group level, the Vedanta group will have cash reserves of nearly $7.65 billion.

China's Jinchuan Group expects to complete a new 60,000 mt per annum copper-nickel alloy pipe, rod and extrusion plant by end-2009.
"Installation of new production facilities are ongoing that are scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, and future output will be both for sales within China and for export," a company official said.
The output will be used in shipbuilding, galvanizing, electrical appliances, automobile and military applications, said a report.
The plant is part of Jinchuan's Yuan 4bln ($585mln) investment in over 20 nonferrous metals smelting, technical renovation and chemical products projects currently under construction. Other projects include a 5,000 mt per year nickel and nickel alloy plate/strip project and a 15,000 mt per year sponge titanium project, both scheduled for completion by the end of 2009. The source could not provide a breakdown of the investment or other details.
Jinchuan intends to produce 125,000 mt refined nickel, 400,000 mt refined copper and 7,800 mt cobalt in 2009, up 20 percent, 33 percent and 22 percent, respectively, from 2008, as part of its plan to lower production costs by growing output

State-won National Aluminium Co has closed two units of its captive power plant because of a coal shortage and may be cut output of the metal, said a report, citing a company spokesman.
NALCO is operating 835 of the 840 pots at its smelter in Angul in eastern Orissa state, allowing it to maintain production levels, while increasing the risk of a reduction , the report said

Ess Dee Aluminium (EDAL) , India's leading players in providing primary packaging solutions to the pharmaceutical industry, has reported a consolidated net sales of Rs 130.38 crore and profit after tax of Rs 17.60 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. On a sequential basis, the company has reported a growth in operations as compared to quarter ended March 31, 2009. Net sales rose by 30 percent and profit after tax by 115 percent. The operating profit margin has improved by 480 bps to 25 percent. The consolidated results are not comparable to June 30, 2008 results as they include financials of India Foils Ltd and Flex Art Foil Pvt Ltd. Commenting on the performance Sudip Dutta, CMD, ESS DEE Aluminium Ltd. said, “During the quarter we have introduced two new innovative products which have been well received by our customers. More importantly, our customer segments in the Pharmaceutical and FMCG space have witnessed robust pick-up in demand. We are confident that the spur in demand coupled with our innovative product strategy should lead to a strong growth in the current fiscal.” India Foils Limited (IFL) became a subsidiary of the company on 19th November 2008. Pursuant to the direction of the Hon'ble BIFR at the proceedings dated May 21, 2009, the Monitoring Agency, viz. Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, have filed a Modified Draft Rehabilitation Scheme (MDRS) with the Hon'ble BIFR on June 30, 2009 inter alias proposing merger of IFL with the company effective from April 1, 2008. EDAL's products include aluminium foil for strip packs, lid foil, thermoforming PVC and PVC/PVdC films for blister packs.
EDAL has three manufacturing facilities – two in Daman and one in Goa. Daman houses the most recent state-of-the-art EDAL plant that caters to the specialized aluminium foil based laminate requirements of the pharmaceutical industry and those of the food & FMCG industries. The company's 100 percent subsidiary, Flex Art Foil Pvt. Ltd, has facilities in Daman, Goa, Vasai (Maharashtra) & Baddi (Himachal Pradesh). EDAL has made major investments in enhancing its R&D capabilities and is presently working on optimum packaging

The civil construction of the Rs 5000-crore alumina refinery project of Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL), a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group (ABG), near Kasipur in Orissa's Rayagada district has resumed after being stalled for about two months.
The construction work of the 1.5-million tons alumina refinery project was marred by the agitation of the displaced and affected people of the project. These people had demanded higher compensation, job for at least one member of the affected families and peripheral development activities by the project developers.
Basachyuta Prabhabita and Khyatigrastha committee, the main agitator, President Kasti Turuku said that the Committee has decided to suspend agitation for about four months after a senior leader of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), who is also a Rajya Sabha member, assured us to solve our problems.
The project affected people had demanded Rs 3.44 lakh per acre of land and a job for at least one member of the affected families. However, the company offered Rs 2.10 lakh per acre of land. About 2,300 acres of land was acquired by the company for setting up of the 1.5- million tons alumina refinery project. The people of about 108 villages in three blocks would be affected by the project.
The project work was stalled since June 3 this year, when the project affected people staged dharana in front of the project site and did not allow the contractor to carry on work. Following the recent withdrawal of the strike, the company is keen on expediting the work and aims to start production from the plant by July 2011. The company had already spent about Rs 1,000 crore on the project and had committed an additional investment of Rs 4,000 crore.
Utkal Alumina refinery was conceived in 1992 to tap the huge deposits of bauxite in the area and produce alumina. The project faced stiff protests from the environmentalists and the affected people in the past 17 years. Concerned over the implementation of the refinery unit, the two original joint venture partners; Tata and Norsk Hydro had pulled out of the project earlier. It is now fully owned by ABG after another foreign partner Alcan, sold its stake in 2000

Cathode copper output in Zambia, Africa's largest producer, rose to 349,333 tons for the six months to June this year compared to 288,057 tons in the same period last year. However, cobalt production declined to 1,690 tons in the first six months of the year from 2,230 tonnes. Exports of the red metal in the first half of the year rose to 336,705 tonnes compared to 284,250 tonnes in the same period last year. Cobalt exports were 1,793 tonnes compared to 2.253 tons last year. Zambia earns 63 percent of its total foreign exchange from copper exports and the mines are also a major employer in this southern African country of 12 million people. The government forecasts that copper production will rise to over 600,000 tons this year from 569,000 tons the previous year. London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, Canada's First Quantum Minerals, Equinox Minerals Ltd and Glencore International AG are some of the foreign mining firms operating in Zambia

India's largest copper and zinc producer Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd posed a 41 percent decline in first-quarter profit after prices fell.
Net income dropped to Rs 6.73 billion in the three months ended June 30 from Rs 11.5 billion a year ago, said the company.
Prices of zinc, used to galvanize steel, averaged $1,476 a metric ton in the period, compared with $2,115 a ton a year earlier, the company said. Aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange were about 50 percent lower on an average in the June quarter compared with a year earlier.
Sterlite's zinc production rose 9 percent to 139,315 tons in the quarter, while copper cathode output was 15 percent higher, the statement said. Aluminum production decreased 19 percent, it said.

Volatility in the domestic market has got Hindalco Industries, the Aditya Birla group's flagship firm, to cut the size of its $500 million qualified institutional placement (QIP) and go in for a global depositary receipts (GDR) issue. While the total fund-raising target will remain $500 million, the company has not disclosed how much it planned to raise through GDRs.
Hindalco will be joining a growing list of large Indian companies that have raised money from overseas equity markets, mainly to bring in the equity component for financing large projects, and also to retire debts. The plan to raise $200 million was part of its scheme to fill the gap in funding due to expected decline in internal accrual.
The overseas fund raising rally started this year with Sterlite Industries, the nation's biggest copper producer, which raised $1.5 billion selling shares in the US. Soon after, Tata Steel had raised $500 million and Suzlon Energy raised $108 million by issuing GDRs. Tata Power was the most recent in the list with its $335 million GDR. Hindalco requires Rs 25,000-30,000-crore for its capital expenditure till 2013 that includes new projects and expansion of existing ones in Orissa and Jharkhand.
It also has a consolidated debt of about Rs 25,000 crore. Of which, Novelis, its Canadian subsidiary, alone has $about Rs 11,500 crore debt. Earlier this year, the company had raised a five-year loan of $1 billion, to partly pay off a $3-billion bridge loan taken during the acquisition of Canadian aluminium major, Novelis. Later, it had got lenders' consent for covenant re laxations relating to the $982 million bank loan. Hindalco Industries has seen a 31 percent fall in net profit at Rs 481 crore during the financial year's first quarter, on lower metal prices. The income has dropped 16 percent to Rs 3,899 crore

Chile's copper production fell 2.6 percent in June as Codelco and BHP Billiton Ltd. had setbacks at mines in the South American country. Production fell to 467,185 metric tonnes in June, down from 479,424 tonnes a year earlier, the country's national statistics office said. Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, is mining ore with less copper content at its main Norte division and said it would extend maintenance work at a mill at its El Teniente mine. Melbourne-based BHP is conducting maintenance work at a mill at Escondida, the world's largest copper mine. Chile's production of molybdenum, a metal found in copper ore used in aircraft fuselage and in oil lubricants, rose 7.7 percent to 2,967 tons from the year-ago period