Vedanta said its aluminium production jumped during the quarter ended September 2023 but its zinc, silver and oil & gas production plummeted making the quarter a mixed one for the conglomerate that is going under restructuring.
During the quarter, the metal and mining giant in a communique on October 3, said, alumina production at Lanjigarh refinery increased by 2 percent YoY and 17 percent QoQ. The cast metal aluminium production at its smelters increased by 2 percent YoY and 3 percent QoQ to 594 kilotonnes (kt).
Mined zinc production was marginally down at 252 kt YoY. It decreased 2 percent QoQ largely due to lower ore production at Rampura Agucha and Kayad mines partly offset by better overall metal grades. Refined metal production at 241 kt, lower by 2 percent YoY and 7 percent QoQ primarily on account of scheduled maintenance activity.
Integrated zinc production was at 185kt, lower by 2 percent YoY and 12 percent QoQ. Refined lead production was flat YoY at 57kt; it increased 12 percent QoQ on account of pyro plant operations on Lead mode during 2QFY24. Saleable silver production was at 181 tonnes, lower by 7 percent YoY.
Internationally, overall production of zinc was at 66 kt, lower by 10 percent YoY and 3 percent QoQ largely due to lower tonnes treated. Gamsberg production at 48 kt lower by 13 percent YoY and 2 percent QoQ largely due to lower throughput, partially offset by higher zinc grades and recoveries.
Black Mountain Mine (BMM) production at 18kt, lower by 3 percent YoY due to lower lead grades offset by higher throughput, zinc grades and recoveries. It was lower by 6 percent QoQ largely due to lower throughput, zinc grades and recoveries, partly offset by higher lead grades and recoveries.
For oil & gas, the average gross operated production at 134,092 boepd. Rajasthan block's average gross production was stable QoQ at 112,215 boepd (barrels of oil equivalent per day). Gross production from Development Area-1 (DA-1), Development Area-2 (DA-2) and Development Area-3 (DA-3) averaged 97,594 boepd, 14,483 boepd and 138 boepd, respectively.
Gas production from Raageshwari Deep Gas (RDG) averaged 151.1 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) (equivalent to 25.2 kboepd), increasing 4 percent sequentially. Gas sales post captive consumption at 125.5 mmscfd (equivalent to 20.9 kilo boepd).
Ravva block's average gross production was higher by 9 percent YoY at 10,860 boepd, supported by gains from exploration success in the drilling campaign. Cambay block's average gross production was higher by 4 percent YoY at 10,055 boepd, supported by gains from the infill well drilling campaign
Last week, Vedanta announced a restructuring plan to demerge all its business verticals into separate listed entities. It's a clean split, with existing shareholders of Vedanta Ltd getting one share of each of the five demerged entities. The deal is expected to take 12 months to complete.
Earlier in the day, Vedanta stock rose about 4 percent to Rs 230.80.
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