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%

Looks like at last we have the break up out of the range.

mining stocks are doing strange things at the moment and are even more volatile than usual

my fave remains BLT, though i (foolishly with hindsight) banked a respectable profit on friday

i need to check it out, but i have on fairly good authority that stainless steel prices have gained significantly over the last couple of weeks
i'm not sure whether that is just in $ terms (it's weak) or truly so through increasing demand

A lot of Bullish talk on miners in the US Cyners over last week or so. CNBC is a good online site to follow.

When miners start to go blue we should also be buying banks. The 2 go hand in hand.

Hold Barclays.

Got shot of all my small stuff.

VED rising dtrongly today. Is this a result of the new
government in India? Other miners have not risen that much.

it's been on a fantastic run since early May = + nearly 25%
young sticky highlighted them, and didn't even think of following ...... i wonder if the boy still holds them

Yes indeed I do. If you remember I brought them to the attention of the thread on the Chart thread at the same time I also highlited TED which as also made me a small fortune. Still holding both but have a tight stop as they are approaching slight resistance.

Fingers crossed.

well done old bean cos i recollect you've had a couple of "beasts" too

Yep AAL just the one but I was out very sharpish. DOM recommended by you is my only dog at the moment. KAS looks like its the next miner that could do well.

Dont touch ANTO chinese stocks of copper are very very heavy. Using copper as collateral in china on credit notes and the material is being stock piled.

Shame really because if the World Recover is for real copper is usually the biggest winner or should I say the first sign that global growth is on the move.

oh .... thought i heard a quick weep from you that you had done some VERY serious damage over a 2 week period - though i really would not wish that on you, not even remotely :-)

just because i suggested DOM, it didn't mean you had to follow :-)
it's actually a surprisingly volatile stock and i would want to eat its product, but it's a very good company nevertheless ..... i very much like RTN in that sector too, for similar reasons

KAZ i traded briefly and successfully and have never followed ANTO .... of the miners, i still like BLT, not just because it always sounds a good idea at lunchtime, but because it has a very wide portfoluio

Serious damage.....nah was just a winge at this boring sideways market and yep Im responsible for my own buy re- DOM. Think itl come good any way.

RAT is presently making me some serious money and RR. plus CPI were Ive been given the nod a big contract is on the way are ones im looking at.

Further to my observations on the mining sector bullish breakout yesterday Ive found VED as a WATCH candidate.

VED, miners showing much promise at the moment. As a support line at 1000p which as been hit and bounced off 5 times



what I posted earlier on the 20th of August below......


Further to my observations on the mining sector bullish breakout yesterday Ive found VED as a WATCH candidate.

VED

UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE

03 Sep 2014 Vedanta Resources... VED Deutsche Bank Buy 1,097.50 1,060.00 1,250.00 1,250.00 Upgrades

SP TARGET 1250p

Barclays note today:

"Highlights from the release
· Oil & gas: production fell 11% QoQ (-7% YoY) at Rajasthan, reflecting the planned 10-day maintenance shutdown at the Mangala Processing Terminal as highlighted in the Q1 release.

· HZL production recovered from a weak first quarter (+28% QoQ but -8% YoY) and should continue to improve in H2. Zinc International was weak due to unplanned maintenance activities at Skorpion and lower grades at Lisheen.

· Copper Zambia: Konkola continues to be impacted by low equipment availability and shaft interruptions while Nchanga operations were impacted by lower grades and temporary power restriction in September. Integrated production fell 4% QoQ (-25% YoY). The operation is implementing various interventions to improve the overall operating performance and these are progressing well.

· Aluminium: production increased 9% QoQ (+11% YoY) while alumina production operated above 90% of capacity (-3% QoQ, +95% YoY). The company noted low coal availability which has impacted power purchases at Korba and expect these issues to continue. 84 pots at Korba-II were started but ramp-up to full capacity awaits final regulatory approvals for the 1200MW power plant to be commissioned. Start-up at the 1.25mtpa Jharsuguda plant has also commenced. The company awaits further government action to deal with the coal block that was cancelled in September 2014.

· Iron ore production and sales were up QoQ, but the Karnataka operations were halted in August 2014 to await forest clearance and mining lease renewal, which is expected in Q3. The company still expects to recover to the cap rate of 2.29mt by year-end. Goa mining is expected to commence in Q4-15.

· Power: power sales increased 9% YoY but was lower QoQ (-22% QoQ) as the PLF dropped to 38% from 45% in Q1.
We remain cautious on Vedanta due to expensive near-term valuation multiples, high debt, M&A risk, ongoing operational difficulties across the business and misleading cash flow multiples (e.g. over half of attributable FCF is generated by HZL). The investment case continues to be a long-dated turnaround story waiting to happen, in our view, with significant ‘latent capacity’ across many areas of the business. However, we believe due to operational and regulatory constraints, this is unlikely to be unleashed in the short term. Given still-high gearing and expensive valuation (e.g. trading on CY15 PERs of 17.1x and 55.4x on spot) we believe investors can afford to wait.
We remain Underweight."

This one looks like it's on the up lately.

Definitely one of the few miners to have rallied, though they are so diversified that they are not really just a miner any more.
From their website:
"Vedanta's consistent efforts over the last 30 years have contributed to the successful establishment of its capabilities across four continents. Through various subsidiaries, its foothold spans across India, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Liberia, Ireland and Australia. Vedanta holds primary interests in copper, zinc, silver, aluminium, oil & gas, iron ore and power segments."
The group making up Vedanta "Sesa Sterlite Limited, BALCO, MEL, Konkola Copper Mines, Copper Mines of Tasmania, Hindustan Zinc Ltd., Talwandi Sabo Power, Cairn India, Zinc International."

Cairn India Limited (CIL), one of the leading independent exploration and production companies in the world, is pleased to announce its guidance.

In continuation of our communication at the end of Q3FY15 and in light of the current oil price environment, Cairn is taking a proactive approach to capital allocation and shareholder returns. The Company will be undertaking projects that are economically viable at current oil prices. Additionally management focus is on re-engineering projects and re-negotiating contracts to improve project economics.

With close to USD 1.1 billion of capex invested in FY15, the Company is revising the capex for FY16 from the projected USD 1.2 billion to USD 500 million, while deferring the rest. The Company will remain agile to make investments to enhance volumes. Despite the partial deferment of capex, the volumes will yet see growth in the coming fiscal.

The Company has received Management Committee approval for the Raag Deep Gas Project.

As always, the focus will be on free cash flow after capex and dividend payout.

Mr. Mayank Ashar, Managing Director and CEO of Cairn India commented:
"We would like to give confidence to our shareholders that we are more focused than ever to drive operational efficiencies in the current crude price environment. Our cash rich balance sheet and best-in-class cost profile provide a solid foundation to operate our high margin core fields. This gives us the optionality to be selective about growth projects in these challenging times."

Deutsche Bank note:
"Cairn India announced late last week that the income tax department has slapped a ~USD3.2 billion demand for not withholding tax from Cairn Energy UK. This comprises roughly 50% in tax not withheld and the balance 50% in interest and penalty. Cairn Energy itself was served with a ~USD1.6 billion tax notice few days back. Cairn Energy seems to be seeking refuge under the India-UK tax treaty, while Cairn India will likely have to fight it in the India courts. Recollect that the Cairn Energy issue is not completely new as the case was first opened early last year and just the assessment has been completed now. The demand relates to capital gains made by the UK entity when it transferred the India assets to Cairn India in 2006-07 before the latter's IPO. Cairn Energy had supposedly invested around USD350 million in the India business and the transfer was done at over USD4 billion, leading to capital gains of almost USD4 billion (per Bloomberg).

The above puts India squarely back in the eyes of global investors who have been hoping the new government will be keeping its promise to be more business friendly. Coincidentally, when the notice was served on Cairn Energy, India's finance minister was in UK to drum up interest for investments in India. However, his excuse has been that the case was first brought by the old government and hence beyond the new government's purview. Note that many other MNCs are/have been involved with tax cases in the country - Vodafone, Shell, Microsoft, IBM, etc. More importantly, Vodafone was successful last year when the Mumbai High Court ruled in its favor in one of the cases.

We are clearly no tax experts, but it seems a little odd that the same USD1.6 billion is being claimed from both the entities - Cairn India and Cairn Energy. We assume that if Cairn Energy manages to get reprieve under the tax treaty, it should automatically free Cairn India from its obligations. Also, the liability is ultimately Cairn Energy's, if any. We understand that Cairn India was perhaps responsible for withholding the tax and should be liable for a penalty in the worst case scenario, though to make it liable for the tax might be a bit of a stretch in our view. In any case, we don't expect a resolution any time soon and this might be an overhang on Vedanta for years to come. Unfortunately, this comes right after allegations on Cairn India for stealing official documents (still ongoing) and in the middle of weak oil prices. Moreover, till the tax dispute is resolved, Cairn Energy won't be allowed to sell its remaining 10% stake in Cairn India. The silver lining has been Cairn India cutting its FY'16 capex from USD1.2 billion to USD500 million and deferring the rest.

We are downgrading Vedanta 2018s (100.5/101, 9.2% mid ytm) from Buy to Hold. Our end belief on the company's ability to successfully refinance its debt maturities hasn't changed. But since our upgrade in mid-Feb, other than the negative headlines discussed above, oil has dropped almost USD10 per barrel, and bond technicals could get challenging again. Our long term view on oil has always been cautious (even after the rally from 40s to 60s), however we were not expecting it to start dropping again so soon and so quickly. We have also last week changed our broader tactical call on Asia HY from constructive to neutral. Having said this, we think the 2018s and 2019s look cheapest on the curve, with 2016s being quite tight at ~7% ytm, and the long end being very flat with 2021s and 2023s at just over 10%. Relative to straight bonds, the CBs continue to offer better value. Key downside risks include an escalation of any/all the issues above and oil price going back to the lows. Key upside risks include further simplification of the group structure. Otherwise, we continue to like Greenko and Rolta in the belly of India HY with 9-10% yields."

StockMarketWire.com
Vedanta reported Q4 oil and gas production at a normalised level, but noted FY output was lower due to the planned maintenance shutdown in Q2.

Average daily gross operated production for Q4 2015 was 215,553 boepd, down 4% on the 224,429 boepd a year earlier. Average daily gross operated production for FY 2015 was 211,671 boepd, down 3% from 218,651 boepd.

"This was largely on account of planned maintenance activity at Mangala Processing Terminal at Rajasthan, higher than expected water cut at Bhagyam in Rajasthan and suspension of gas sales at Ravva for around three months," the company said.

"Some of the losses were partially offset by higher production at Cambay and better performance of the Mangala field in Rajasthan. In the Rajasthan block, the Aishwariya field crossed a production of 30,000 boepd in the third quarter."

CEO Tom Albanese said:
"We continue to focus on the execution of our defined strategy and, despite volatile commodity markets, we remain confident in our diversified business model.

"In particular, record levels of production in Zinc and Aluminium over the year underpin our confidence in achieving greater operational performance and enhancing production across our well-invested and low-cost asset base, and from the start-up of new capacities."

Highlights:
· Record quarterly and full year production of mined metal at Zinc India

· Q4 and full year production at Zinc International impacted by unplanned interruptions

· Commenced iron ore production at Karnataka, final approvals awaited at Goa; record annual production of Pig Iron

· Continued strong production in Q4 at Copper India leading to record annual copper cathode production

· Higher quarterly production at Copper Zambia but full year production lower due to shaft interruptions; Shaft # 1 of Konkola Deep mine back on line in Q4

· Record quarterly and full year Aluminium production, new Jharsuguda-II and Korba-II smelters ramping up well

· Record quarterly and full year production at Lanjigarh Alumina refinery

Vedanta Resources Plc.
Vedanta Limited announces Results for the Fourth Quarter and Year Ended 31 March 2015.

http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5026218