Level 3
256 Adelaide Terrace Septimus Roe Square Perth
Western Australia 6000 Australia
PO Box 3074
East Perth
Western Australia 6892 Australia
T: +61 8 9366 8800
F: +61 8 9366 8805
www.adityabirlaminerals.com.au
Aditya Birla Minerals Limited
ASX RELEASE For the Quarter ended 31st March 2016For Further Information
Aditya Birla Minerals Limited Neel Patnaik - Managing DirectorShanti Dugar - Chief Financial Officer
Peter Torre - Company Secretary Telephone +61 8 9366 8800
Facsimile +61 8 9366 8805
Email: investorrelations@adityabirla.com.au
ADITYA BIRLA MINERALS LIMITED Fourth Quarter Ended 31st March 2016Highlights
The operating performance at the Nifty Copper Operation during the March 2016 quarter was as follows:
Ore production was 446,512 tonnes, an increase of 13% compared to the December quarter. Copper production during the quarter was 8,959 tonnes, a decrease of ~19% from the previous quarter due to lower copper grade.
C1 cash operating costs during the quarter of A$2.29/lb, an increase of
~10% from the December quarter.
Ore processed during the quarter was 437,579 tonnes, a marginal reduction of 1% from the December quarter.
Lower ore grade averaging at 2.12% during the quarter as compared to 2.65% in the December quarter.
The mining of tertiary and pillar stopes continued, however higher than expected dilution and poor stope ore recovery resulted in an overall loss of copper in comparison to the reserve tonnage and grade.
Nifty achieved the lowest ever cost per tonne of ore mined and milled during the quarter at A$77.8/t.
Cash and cash equivalents of $67.64 million as at 31 March 2016 with a further
$7.62 million (classified as trade and other receivables in the balance sheet) in a security deposit against finance facilities.
The mineral resource and reserve update is in advance stage of completion and an announcement of the same as at 31 March 2016 is expected to be made in the middle of May 2016.
Subsequent to quarter end, the Board of Directors unanimously recommended to ACCEPT the Metals X's conditional intention to increase the offer for ABML's shares as per details provided in a separate ASX release dated 26 April 2016. With this, the Strategic Review initiated in October 2015 post the sale of Mt Gordon has now been concluded.
Overview
Production Summary
of ABML
UoM
Quarter Ended
31 Mar'16
Quarter Ended
31 Dec'15
Quarter Ended
31 Mar'15
Year to Date Ended
31 Mar'16
Year to Date Ended
31 Mar'15
Ore mined
tonnes
446,512
393,740
353,928
1,582,452
954,861
Grade
%
2.12%
2.65%
1.50%
2.10%
1.56%
Cu contained
tonnes
9,462
10,437
5,314
33,272
14,922
Ore Processed
tonnes
437,579
441,983
357,622
1,601,110
917,176
Cu contained
tonnes
9,307
11,344
5,439
33,576
14,359
Concentrate produced
dmt
38,723
47,546
21,733
137,311
57,439
Concentrate Grade
%
23.14%
23.14%
21.56%
23.38%
22.10%
Total Copper Produced
tonnes
8,959
11,003
4,685
32,098
12,698
Total Copper Sold
tonnes
12,255
8,450
(71)
36,826
9,338
Compared to the previous quarter, copper production decreased by ~19% mainly due to lower average copper grade to 2.12% during Q4 compared to 2.65% achieved in the previous quarter.
The Company had a balance of cash and cash equivalents of $67.64 million as at 31 March 2016. In addition, there were security deposits of $7.62 million as at 31 March 2016 (accounted for as 'trade and other receivables') against finance facilities. The total of the cash balance and security deposits as at 31 March 2016 was $75.26 million, a decrease of $4.74 million compared to the corresponding total of $80.00 million at the end of the previous quarter. The decrease is mainly attributed to working capital movements between the two reporting cut-off dates.
As at 27 April 2016, the Company had sold forward 11,600 tonnes of copper at an average rate of US$4,640 per tonne against the despatched quantity. As at the same date, the Company had a forward sale position of US$18.5 million at an average exchange rate of 0.7666 AUD/USD.
Strategic Review: The Company had undertaken a comprehensive Strategic Review process over the past 6 months with one objective in mind - to maximise value for all ABML shareholders. The Strategic Review enabled a robust price discovery process to be undertaken by ABML. The Strategic Review process has now been concludedOn 15 October 2015, ASX-listed Metals X Limited ("Metals X") had announced an unsolicited off-market takeover offer for all of the fully paid ordinary shares in ABML, which was subsequently revised and extended from time to time. Following completion of Metals X's negotiations with the Company and Hindalco (the Company's 51% shareholder), Metals X announced a revision to its takeover offer on 26 April 2016 by :
increasing the scrip consideration to 1 Metals X share for every 4.5 ABML shares held; and
adding a cash component of $0.08 per ABML share.
(Increased Offer), conditional on Hindalco Industries Limited (Hindalco) being in a position to accept the Increased Offer once Metals X has made the formal variation to increase the offer consideration in accordance with section 650D of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Formal Variation).
Hindalco has formally advised ABML that it will accept the Increased Offer within three business days of each of the following conditions having been satisfied or waived by Hindalco:
no bona fide superior proposal being announced by a third party within 5 business days of the announcement (i.e. before May 4, 2016);
Metals X lodging and providing the Formal Variation in respect of the Increased Offer; and
Hindalco receiving written approval from the Reserve Bank of India, which is unconditional or subject only to conditions reasonably acceptable to Hindalco, that Hindalco may dispose of its ABML shares and subscribe for Metals X shares (RBI Approval).
Subject to Metals X making the Formal Variation, the ABML directors unanimously recommend that, in the absence of a superior proposal, ABML shareholders accept the Increased Offer. The Company has signed a Bid Agreement in this regard which places "No-shop and No-talk" obligations on AMBL or its representatives
With this, the Strategic Review process initiated by the Company in October 2015 for residual ABML has now been concluded.
Aditya Birla Minerals Limited issued this content on 29 April 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 29 April 2016 01:25:55 UTC
Original Document: http://www.adityabirlaminerals.com.au/downloads/File/pdf/46771d1f432b42343f56f791422a4991.pdf