Vedanta achieves record aluminium production of 541,000 tonnes in H1

Vedanta Resources published its production release for the Second Quarter and Half Year ended 30^th September 2016

During Q2 Vedanta aluminium smelters continued to ramp up with current production run-rate of 1.1 mtpa (excluding trial run production). Ramp-up was hampered by pot failure at Jharsuguda-II and BALCO-II smelters in Q2. Secured coal linkages of 6mtpa for captive power plants through auctions helped the company running smooth operations.

Shareholders of both Vedanta Limited and Cairn India approved the merger of both the companies and the transaction is expected to complete in Q1 CY2017

Commenting on the results, Tom Albanese, Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Resources plc, said: "We have delivered a strong operational performance during the quarter. We have progressed on our ramp-up of aluminium and though we had some operational challenges, our full year volumes are not expected to be materially impacted. We achieved higher mined metal production at Zinc India and this upward trend is expected to continue in the second half. We are extremely pleased that shareholders have approved the proposed Vedanta Limited - Cairn India merger last month, and we expect the transaction to complete in the first quarter of CY2017. This is an important strategic step in simplifying the Group."

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Vedanta achieved record aluminium production of 296,000 tonnes in Q2.

The commissioning of pots at the first line of the 1.25 mtpa Jharsuguda-II aluminium smelter was completed in July 2016. Operation in 168 pots stalled due to power outage in early August. Repairing work is under progress and 10 pots have re-started in October 2016.

The commissioning of the second line of Jharsuguda-II commenced in July and is continuing 158 pots having been commissioned till date. The commissioning of the third line of the Jharsuguda-II smelter will commence ramp-up from the second half of October 2016.

In August Vedanta commissioned the BALCO-II smelter with all 336 pots. Notably the rolled product plant at BALCO, which was temporarily closed in Q2 FY2016, also restarted operations and produced 5,000 tonnes during Q2.

In another positive move, the second stream of the Lanjigarh alumina refinery, which was temporarily closed in Q2 FY2016, recommenced operations in Q1 FY2017. The two streams produced 292,000 tonnes of alumina in Q2, 6% higher than Q1. The exit run-rate for the quarter for alumina production was 1.2 mtpa.  After the restarting of the second stream of the Lanjigarh refinery from 1st April 2016, alumina production was 5% higher at 567,000 tonnes in the first half of 2016. The company is expected to produce 1.4 mtpa of Alumina in FY2017 after the reopening of Lanjigarh alumina refinery.

Aluminium production was a record at 541,000 tonnes in H1, 17% with a YOY increase, due to ramp-up of the Jharsuguda-II and BALCO-II smelters and the company aims to produce 1.1 mtpa of Aluminium (excluding trial run production) in FY2017. Overall, the Q2 and H1 have remained positive for the company.