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%

Mineweb - 09-AUG-06 - By: Dorothy Kosich

Labor strife could impact up to 16% of copper supplies


As BHP Billiton declared force majeure Tuesday for copper concentrate delivery and suspended cathode production at the world's largest copper mine, Escondida's reduced production--if compounded by additional labor strife at other copper mines--could result in the loss of 16% of the world's copper mine production this year.


Meanwhile, Japanese and Chinese metals smelter companies said Tuesday that it's too early to determine the impact of the Escondida mine strike in Chile on copper concentrate smelting. The workers at the world's largest copper mine Tuesday predicted their walkout could last as long as a month.

Sydney-based Commodities Analyst Alan Heap of Citigroup said the "copper industry has been plagued by union disputes for months now, as minesite workers seek a greater share in their booming sector." In fact, Heap declared that he expects more of the same this month as 2,000 workers at Escondida went on strike this week and their Peruvian colleagues at Antamina want an 18% wage increase. Miners at British Columbia's Highland Valley copper mine are expecting a "generous September contract renewal,"" he added.

Managers at Falconbridge's Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile averted a strike last May with a deal that included an 8 % pay raise and $4,400 individual worker bonus payment. The FMC union, which represents the striking miners at Escondida, is asking for a 13% pay raise and a $30,000 net bonus per workers. Union Secretary Pedro Marin said Chile's copper companies will have combined profits of $19.15 billion this year. Meanwhile the copper price has risen from 67-cents when the last wage contract was negotiated in 2003 to $3.50 per pound.

Later this year, the world's largest copper miner state-owned Codelco of Chile will have salary negotiations with its own workforce. The Escondida walkout is believed to be influencing the future of the Codelco talks as the Chilean Government scrutinizes BHP's responses to the labor dispute.

Last month, Mexico's Grupo Mexico fired around 2,000 workers at its La Caridad copper mine in the Sonora State in the wake of a strike to protest the firing of a union chief, which began in March. Meanwhile, managers at the Konkola copper/cobalt mine in Zambia agreed to a 20% hike in wages in July. The mine is a joint venture between U.K.-based Vedanta Resources and the Zambian Government.

Heap said that "it's not surprising that copper's price is sensitive to this news. These strike-bound operations alone represent 2.2MTpy of copper-producing capacity or 16% of the forecast mine production in 2006." He estimated that year-to-date total contained metal production lost to strike action stands at 79k without considering loses caused by equipment failures and material shortages.

Heap said that Japan's smelters are most vulnerable to the Escondida strike since they depend on 70% of the Chilean copper mine's annual output. Escondida produces roughly 20% of Chile's total annual production. The company's products are shipped to Japan, Germany, Canada, China, Sweden, Brazil, South Korea and France.

Reuters reported that officials of both Japanese and Chinese metals smelting companies expected a prolonged strike at Escondida, but explained it was too early to determine its impact on their production. Japanese smelters are believed to hold about one month's worth of copper concentrate inventories, according to sources quoted by Reuters.

Copper is used in electrical, electronic, and other applications, as well as transportation systems, housing, commercial construction and appliances. The base metal is used in plumbing, automobile, trains and planes, and most other machinery that uses electricity or has water flowing through its engines. The average American home has at least 30 to 40 motors that rely on copper wires inside the motor.

A force majeure is a contract clause that releases a company from its contractual obligations due to an extraordinary event beyond its control.

MCX expecting three-fold jump in daily turnover


Ludhiana, Aug 09, 2006 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- Enthused by the growing participation of traders and users in metal trading, the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) of India Limited is anticipating more than a three-fold increase in the per day value of trading and volume of metals traded by the end of this fiscal.

"With more and more traders and users of non-ferrous metals participating in metal trading, we expect that the daily trading and volume of metals, including copper, zinc and aluminum will increase over three times against present position by the end of this financial year," MCX, Manager (Product Knowledge Management), Ankit Singhal told PTI here.

Singhal was here to attend a seminar on metal trading.

At present, the per day turnover (single sided) of copper, zinc and aluminum in MCX stands at Rs 900 crore, Rs 150 crore and Rs 50 crore respectively. But the exchange expects daily turnover of Rs 3,000 crore in copper, Rs 400 crore in zinc and Rs 200 crore in aluminum by the end of this fiscal.

Similarly, it hopes that the per day volume size should jump to 50,000 MT in copper, 20,000 MT in zinc and 4,000 MT in aluminum.

The commodity exchange expects maximum participation in metal trading from Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

The MCX has also tied up with Comex (New York based exchange) for copper and London Metal Exchange (LME) for other metal commodities for sharing expertise and knowledge in the trading.

e t

Is this another deramp.



Interesting the share price is up 1.8% to-day and SP has crossed up thro' the 5 and 15 MA.

The market seems to be ignoring you

Seems to of had the opposite effect.

Up she blows.

I say.

I wasn't expecting this kind of rise.

Sentiment was further boosted by a series of target price increases across the sector by Goldman Sachs, affecting Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Lonmin, and Vedanta Resources, while the broker trimmed its target price for Rio Tinto.

Goldman Sachs said it believes Vedanta remains the best 'buy' idea in the sector, as the group offers 62% potential upside to its target price.

In reaction, Vedanta shares added 42p at 1,383p.

....More of that won't do It any harm.

Stan, the response has been very appreciated.

I do hope you are short on the ET,

This is relevent because Vedanta has substantial copper mining involvement in Zambia.




Dow Jones Newswires - 18 Aug 2006 - By Nicholas Bariyo

Zambia Copper Mines Hike Output Amid Escondida Shutdown


Zambian copper miners are taking advantage of high copper prices on the international market to increase copper production, seen by the government as a key driver of continued economic growth.

An ongoing strike at Chile's Escondida, the world's largest privately-owned copper mine, has caused world copper prices to rise from already increased levels.

Zambian copper mining companies are now well placed to hike output, having settled a series of damaging labor disputes, while government safeguards are in place to secure uninterrupted energy supply to key mining areas as economic growth stretches the country's energy infrastructure.

Zambia's 2006 copper output is already forecast at 600,000 metric tons compared with 440,000 tons last year, with copper and cobalt export earnings expected to reach over $2 billion compared with $1.5 million in 2005. A review of the tax regime in the mining sector is set to further increase government revenue.

"Operations in the sector are going on smoothly as companies seek to produce more copper", said an official at Zambia's Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development by telephone, noting that the Escondida unrest in Chile has contributed hugely to a renewed drive to increase production.

Late Thursday, Escondida, majority-owned by BHP Billiton (BHP), said that it was stopping production and suspending negotiations with striking workers. On the LME early Friday, three-month copper was trading at $7,475 a metric ton, up $170/ton from late Thursday, on the back of the shutdown.

Zambia has also had its share of labor disputes in the copper mining sector. Following a June labor agreement between workers at the country's leading copper producer, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) and management, seen as a breakthrough in industrial relations in the country's mining industry, the official said that he now sees output rising for the remainder of the year. The KCM deal has allayed fears of a repeat of nine days of industrial action last year which cost KCM up to 7,500 metric tons of copper and resulted in the company failing to meet its 2005 output target. According to Augustine Seyuba, KCM's vice president in charge of corporate communications, the company is now on course to meet its 2006 copper output target of 200,000 metric tons.

KCM is not the only copper producer to experience labor unrest. In July there was serious unrest and shootings at Chinese-owned copper producer Chambishi Mining Plc. The unrest was resolved inside a week and production is now at normal levels, according to Albert Mando, General Secretary of Zambia's National Union of Miners and Allied Workers. The Union has since sought peaceful means to resolve issues surrounding pay and conditions, Albert said.

Still, miners at Chambishi are among the lowest paid in the sector, according to union officials, and there is lingering resentment directed at owners China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group Co. Ltd., accused by some of exploiting a weak domestic regulatory regime to offer low wages. For now, though, copper ore output is running at a normal 25,000-30,000 tons a year at Chambishi.

Meanwhile, increased production is expected from new mining operations such as the Kanshashi mine and the Mulyashi mine. A number of smaller copper mines have been hiking output since 2005. Luanshya Copper Mine, owned by Swiss-based J&W Investments, is targeting output of up to 67,500 metric tons of copper this year, up from 50,000 tons in 2005. With big mining companies like Mopani and Konkola Copper Mines all overcoming operational disruptions, output is set to grow across the board.

"The ongoing activities in (copper) mining suggest that the sector is poised to be once again one of the major contributors to the future growth of our economy," said Caleb Fundaga, Governor, Central Bank of Zambia, in a recent statement.

According to the central bank, Zambia's January-June 2006 copper output increased by 24.1% to reach 250,744 metric tons, compared with 201,993 tons in the year-earlier period, resulting from increased investment in the mining sector and higher world copper prices. Data from the central bank indicates that the country earned $1.38 billion from copper and cobalt exports in the first six months of 2006. Export receipts from copper and cobalt account for 83% of total Zambian export earnings.

According to the central bank, Zambia's economic growth is seen at 6% this year, marking the eighth consecutive year of growth, largely driven by the recovery of the mining industry after the mass privatization of copper mines in the late 1990s.

And to continue to increase production and take advantage of high copper prices, the Zambian government has committed to enable mining companies to operate without energy supply disruptions. The Energy Regulatory Board requires that oil marketing companies keep a 15-day fuel reserve amid the closure of the country's sole oil refinery, the Indeni Oil Refinery, for refurbishment. The Indeni refinery, co-owned by France's Total SA (TOT) and the Zambian government, has faced severe reliability problems due to aging equipment. It is expected to be shut down throughout August, with shortfalls of refined petroleum products made up from increased imports.

The government has also directed the state-run power utility, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation, or ZESCO, to import power to cover a domestic shortage largely resulting from growth in the mining sector, which consumes about 60% of the country's generated power.

While ensuring that mines can continue to operate and to increase output, the government is also seeking to increase mining tax revenues. The the Ministry of Finance is in the final stages of reviewing the tax regime of the mining sector and is expected to raise the royalty paid by mining concerns to between 2.5% and 3.0%, effective 2007, up from just 0.6%, where it has been since 2000.