Vedanta Resources is a diversified and integrated metals and mining group with annual sales of $1.9bn. Its principal operations are located in India, where it has a major market share in each of our main metals: aluminium, copper, zinc and lead. There are also substantial copper operations in Zambia and 2 copper mines in Australia.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

                        

Copper - (6 month graph)

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 31/03/2006)

Copper:      60%
Zinc:         24%
Aluminium:  12%
Others:       4%

Need nerves of steel Ian - but there's certainly profit to be made if you can time the buys + sells right. However I feel the time is right to sell as the price of metals could very easily go well down over the next few months. Be careful!!!!

The Times - October 11, 2006

Time to get back on board the Vedanta rollercoaster ride - Tempus


VEDANTA RESOURCES has proved to be something of a rollercoaster ride for investors this year, in common with other metals and mining stocks. The Indian mining company, which entered the FTSE 100 in July, less than three years after it floated, saw its share price hit a high of 17.40 in May, only to plunge steeply with the rest of the market shortly after that. Just a month before it scaled these heights, Tempus recommended taking profits at 15.40.

With the shares trading at 12.70 yesterday, those who got out before the stock market wobbles of late May and June should have a healthy profit to consider reinvesting. But is this the right time to be returning to volatile metals stocks? After five years of strongly rising prices, metals are in transition. Commodity prices are declining, but to keep this weakness in context, metals prices are still high in historical terms.

Since it floated, Vedanta has been considered a risky metals play, largely because it is leveraged on rapid production growth of about 23 per cent a year compound and so had proposed very ambitious and costly investment plans. Phase II, which it is now starting will, total 3.1 billion (2.1 billion). There have been questions, inevitably, over whether the company could afford these.

However, as yesterdays production report for the second quarter shows, there is a steady upward trend in zinc production, a more modest upward trend in aluminium. From 2006 to 2009, Vedantas production growth will total more than 80 per cent.

As Vedanta fulfils its production promises and metals prices remain high, there are expectations of record interim profits at the end of this month. The company is also reducing inventory levels. That will help to clear up concerns that the company will have to borrow significantly to afford the second phase of its investment programme.

There are other factors that increase Vedantas attractions. Primarily, it is a play on the Indian economy, where metals demand is on the increase and growth is roughly double what it is in the West. The companys Indian assets are protected by certain tariffs, which help to keep Vedantas sub- continent cost base low.

Vedanta is not a stock for those who want a dividend, but it looks worth getting back on that rollercoaster as the train heads upward again. Buy.

newsdesk@afxnews.com - Sun, Nov 12 2006

Vedanta's Zambian jv suspends copper production


LUSAKA (AFX) - A Zambian mine, of which Vedanta Resources is a majority owner, has suspended copper production resulting in daily losses of up to 352 tonnes following the pollution of water supplies for more than 50,000 nearby residents, a state radio report said.

Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) suspended production at one of its major mining assets in Zambia's copperbelt after a leaching plant developed a leak which led to poisonous silt contaminating water supplies in the area.

KCM, which has four mining locations in Zambia, suspended operations at Nchanga, the country's largest mine, resulting in daily losses of 10 bln kwacha, according to state radio.

The government ordered the immediate shutdown of the leaching plant which contaminated the water supplies in Chingola, a mining town on the border with Democratic Republic of Congo.

KCM spokesman Sam Equamo told the state-run Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) that the company decided to stop operations because the copper ore needed to be processed at the leaching plant.

KCM is jointly owned by the Zambian government and Vedanta, which has a majority stake and is managing the mines.

The water utility firm in Chingola switched off the water supply to residents to prevent them from drinking contaminated water, according to local authorities in the area.

A disaster management unit of the government has dispatched tankers to provide clean water to the residents while the problem is being fixed.

LUSAKA (Mineweb.com) - 12-NOV-06

Zambias largest copper miner faces plant shutdown - By: Ronald Mwila


Zambias environmental authorities have suspended all pollution control licences for the copper-rich countrys largest miner, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) Plc. The authorities have also announced that they reserve the right to prosecute KCM directors should investigations show that they have been negligent.

KCM is owned by London-listed, Indian-controlled Vedanta Resources Plc, which is due to announce third quarter results of Thursday, November 16, 2006.

Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) spokesperson Justin Mukosa announced in the wake of Sunday, November 5's pollution of the country's Kafue River, on which citizens, businesses and wildlife on the Copperbelt, Lusaka and larger parts of the Central and Southern provinces depend for water, that the cancellation arose from the ECZ's concern about the miner's apparent disregard for the environment.

The pollution control licences allow KCM to discharge effluent into the aquatic environment, chiefly in the Copperbelt town of Chingola.

The latest episode comes barely four months after a similar development. Both instances forced the water utility in the area, Mulonga Water and Sewerage Company, to suspend operations, thereby triggering water shortages in the town.

This time around, Benard Chiwala-managing director of Nkana Water and Sewerage Company, which services the town of Kitwe, where KCM also operates, has told reporters that the company would not be allowed to abstract water from the Kafue River until cobalt and manganese levels revert to acceptable minimums that can enable utilities to treat the water to standards recommended by the World Health organisation (WHO).

Mukosa indicated ECZ's dismay at the continued pollution from KCM's Nchanga operations, chiefly the tailings leach plant (TLP), and the company's lack of a proper environmental maintenance and replacement plan.

"The ECZ has decided to suspend all pollution control licenses to discharge effluent into the aquatic environment incidental to the Tailings Leach Plant until such time that the ECZ is satisfied with a KCM remedial and clean operations," he said.

"The ECZ reserves the right to prosecute KCM management or Directors in their individual capacity if upon investigations, they are deemed to have been negligent in carrying out their duties to prevent and control pollution thereby threatening human life and the environment."

Mukosa noted that continued pollution was evidenced by recent numerous tailings pipe bursts and the heavy siltations of rivers and streams around Chingola town. "This is a clear indication of poor social corporate responsibility by KCM management in their environmental management," he charged.

"ECZ therefore cannot allow such a situation to continue and have had no choice but to direct KCM to close down the tailings leach plant and put its house in order." Mukosa said ECZ had inspected the company's Tailings Leach Plant and the Pollution Control Dam with the primary purpose of assessing the impacts of the pollution and establish the extent of the problem.

He said it was established that a burst pipeline discharged tailings of low pH into the aquatic environment.

"It is believed that this pipeline has not been adequately managed and failure by KCM to source or stock adequate lime for such emergencies[is also evident]," Mukosa said adding that one of the affected communities, Hippo Pool Village, had experienced polluted (bitter) water since November 5, 2006.

"In addition, the poor environmental standards being employed by KCM have caused the Chingola stream bridge to be threatened due to sediments that have silted the stream leaving only about 5cm below the bridge. This threatens the stability of the bridge and in the event of a storm, the bridge could be washed away cutting off Chililabombwe from the rest of the country."

Minewebs efforts to get KCM management to comment have persistently failed, with the company's spokesperson not answering his phone.

Telegraph.co.uk - 17/11/2006

Vedanta slumps on energy move - By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard


India's metal giant Vedanta Resources has rattled the markets with plans to plunge into the subcontinent's power sector, aiming to raise fresh funds through share dilution for a $1.9bn (1bn) coal-fired plant in the east Indian state Orissa.

The move is a bet that India's voracious need for electricity could prove a bonanza, but it may equally be an astute switch away from base metals just as the four-year commodity begins to look long in the tooth.

Chairman Anil Agarwal: said that Vedanta are perfectly
placed to venture into India's energy sector

The share price slumped 7pc to 12.88 on the London Stock Exchange, though it is still up fourfold over the past two years.

Analysts said the "jury was out" on whether this diversification was a good strategy since most investors see Vedanta as a metals play rather than a play on India's fast-growing but highly unbalanced economy - a vastly different calculus. Cazenove said the venture was an "exciting move", well tailored for a group with Indian know-how.

India's economy has been growing at the breakneck speed of 8pc to 10pc a year but its rising steel, car, and manufacturing industries are now running into a brick wall. The national electricity grid is a patchwork of half-connected islets run by bankrupt state boards, with rationing by 12pc at peak times.
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The government is rushing through plans for four giant power stations as part of a $320bn infrastructure drive over the next six years. The finance ministry estimates that power shortages alone are costing the country 10pc in lost GDP growth.

Vedanta's new plans came as it announced a fourfold increase in profits to $1.17bn in the six months to September, driven by rocketing zinc, aluminium and copper prices.

The group produced a record 256,000 tonnes from its Indian mines and smelters, accounting for over half of total profits. After lagging copper in the early phase of the metals rally, zinc has almost tripled this year as worldwide stocks collapsed to barely 11 days' supply.

Chairman Anil Agarwal said Mumbai-based Vedanta was perfectly placed to venture into India's energy sector through its stakes in the local aluminium smelting industry. He said the company had already showed "expertise in developing power assets".

The new funds are to be raised through an ADR share issue in New York. It will have the effect of lowering Vedanta's Sterlite holding from 76pc to 60pc.

Silly question.

Is VED not in the ftse100?

Anyone?

Is that chart showing a classic breakout of the ascending triangle with good volume. I think the sp is going to break the all time next week.

i would concur .... chart pattern looks very promising, though i am not convinced i shall be tempted

Hi Cynic
Are you going to wait see what happens next week before being tempted. However I must say the results this week was pretty impressive. Although I have noticed that some sells from the board of the company have been made today, makes you wondered whether today rise was engineered?

Cynic I have just realised its symmetrical triangle formation not ascending triangle

Someone in the rival website reckons there is rumour going that Kaz may bid??? Surely this would have been picked up the press.
http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail/?display=discussion&code=cotn%3AVED.L&threshold=0&it=le&pageno=1

I read somewhere last week that the chairman had said something like "I would be sympathetic to a bid".

Could be an interesting week for the SP.

Stan this link refers to it i think
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/05/17/cnveda17.xml

Are you holding?

1St Quarter Results are out and look more than good for VED.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200707260701518980A

Starts with:

Revenue of $1.85 billion against $1.3 billion in corresponding prior quarter

Was thinking of a short term "Divi play" with this one but my feeling today is that the takeover froth may reduce this week (which I guess is about 2) so will have a further think until I have to make a decision. Also I'm very aware of some Market moving news this week.

Down 5% at the moment (other miners down 1% Average) anyone know why? Volume a bit more than their average as well. Also what looks to be a good update released this morning.

ved removed from merrill lynch "europe 1" list.

Yes I saw that, didn't say why did they )-:

Relative bad day for miners I believe.

Just limiting exposure to mining stocks.

Opened a long on this one and hoping for a short term profit.

Base metals all on the rise so should help the situation.