Vedanta Resources has reported a strong production ramp-up at its oil and gas operations in Rajasthan, as well as significant production growth in refined silver and lead at Zinc India and a substantial increase in commerical power sales overall.
At Zinc India, the first quarter of the 2013 financial year got off to a good start, with mined metal production at 187,000 tonnes, compared with 188,000 tonnes in the corresponding prior period. Second-half production is still expected to be significantly stronger than in the first half, making up for any like-for-like (LFL) shortfall in the first six months.
Mined metal output at the silver-rich Sindesar Khurd (SK) mine was around 60% higher, offsetting the planned lower output from the Rampura Agucha (RA) mine.
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Integrated silver production was 70% higher at 2.6m ounces and integrated lead production was 79% higher at 29,000 tonnes. The increases were primarily due to the ramp-up of the SK mine and the stabilisation of new capacities for silver refining and lead smelting. Integrated zinc production was 157,000 tonnes, in line with the mine plan. The production of zinc and lead from custom smelting was 4,000 tonnes and 2,000 tonnes respectively.
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Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were 27% lower at $252m compared with $346.9m in the corresponding prior period as the positive impact of higher volumes of silver and lead, and the depreciation of the Rupee was offset by lower prices, lower zinc volumes and lower by-product realisations.
In the first quarter, total production of zinc-lead metal-in-concentrate and zinc metal was in line with the mine plan and earlier guidance at 106,000 tonnes, which comprised 70,000 tonnes of zinc and lead metal-in-concentrate (MIC) at Lisheen and BMM and 36,000 tonnes of refined zinc at Skorpion.
EBITDA for period was $62.4m, 45% lower than the corresponding prior quarter due to lower metal prices and lower volumes.
The average daily gross operated production during the three month period was 206,963 barrels of oil equivalent (boe), 20% higher than the corresponding prior period, while working interest production was 28% higher at 127,226 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
The gross operated production comprised 167,146 barrels of oil per day (bopd) from Rajasthan, 32,589 boepd from Ravva and 7,228 boepd from the CB/OS-2 block in the Cambay basin.
Iron ore sales were 2.9m tonnes (mt) compared with 4.3mt (3.2mt excluding Karnataka) in the corresponding prior period. Production of iron ore was 3.4mt compared with 4.4mt (3.9mt excluding Karnataka) in the corresponding prior period. The decrease was primarily on account of the Karnataka mining ban and continued logistics constraints in Goa.
Aluminium production increased 7% to 185,000 tonnes during the quarter on a LFL basis, while 2,329m units of power were sold, significantly higher than 1,415m units in the corresponding prior quarter, pushing power revenue 29% higher at $157.8m.
The share price rose 0.75% to 935p by 08:46.
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