Copper Mine WA, Copper Production, Western Australian Copper Mine, Copper Investment Opportunities

Aditya Birla Minerals (ABY) is an Australian based mining company with a focus on copper production and exploration. The company is based in Perth, Western Australia, and conducts copper exploration and production activities at the Birla Nifty Copper Operation (BNCO) in the Great Sandy Desert, WA and the Mt Gordon Copper Operation (MGO) located in the Mt Isa Block, QLD.

Aditya Birla Minerals undertakes comprehensive copper mining in Australia, focusing on copper production and exploration at the Western Australian and Queensland locations. Aditya Birla Minerals is part of the Aditya Birla Group and is part owned by Hindalco Industries Ltd. Concentrates produced at each copper mine are shipped to the Hindalco owned copper smelter in India, maximising copper investment opportunities worldwide.

Aditya Birla Minerals undertakes mine development and reserve delineation drilling, but holds copper exploration tenements at both sites and plans to increase Western Australia Exploration activities at a future date.

As part of the Aditya Birla Group, Aditya Birla Minerals is the largest pure copper organisation listed in the Australian stock exchange.

Birla Nifty Copper Operation

Birla Nifty copper operation, located in the Great Sandy Desert Region of the East Pilbara in Western Australia, approximately 1,250 km north of Perth and 350 km east of Port Hedland.

The Nifty operation comprises of open pit and SX-EW processing operations, and an underground mine, a concentrator and associated site infrastructure, with a concentrate storage facility located at Port Hedland.

The Nifty Sulphide deposit, which is accessed via a decline located immediately north of the open pit (the Nifty Sulphide Operation), mines chalcopyrite ore treated by standard flotation to produce copper in concentrate. Ore production from stoping and concentrate production commenced in December 2005 and March 2006 respectively. Nifty underground mine has a capacity of 2.3 mtpa and the concentrator plant has a capacity of 2.5 mtpa. Concentrate produced is trucked to Port Hedland for shipping to Hindalco Copper’s Dahej smelting and refining facility in India. At an LOM production capacity of approximately 60 ktpa, the Nifty Sulphide Operation is one of the largest underground copper mines to be commissioned worldwide in this decade. This is in addition to having delivered the project at one of the globally most competitive capital cost per tonne of annual copper production over a 25 year horizon. The Nifty Sulphide Operations has an expected remainder life of approximately nine year based on last published reserves. However, based on further drilling completed during FY2009 it is expected that mine life will extend beyond nine years.

The open pit operation exploits oxide, transitional and chalcocite mineral resources from which copper cathode is recovered via a heap leach and SX-EW method. The oxide circuit is capable of producing approximately 25 ktpa of copper cathode, which is under contract of sale to Glencore. Open pit mining operations ceased in June 2006 and heap leaching operations ceased in January 2009. Heap leach retreatment project, to recover approximately 40,000 tonnes copper from existing heap leach pads, was postponed due to the subdued economic environment.

Birla Mt Gordon Copper Operation

The Birla Mt Gordon copper operation consists of underground mining operations and a concentrator plant with a milling capacity to process up to 1.5 mtpa of ore, designed to produce copper in concentrate. Birla Mt Gordon copper mine holds two underground mines and a copper concentrate plant. The copper concentrator was commissioned in 2004.

The Mt Gordon operation is located in northwest Queensland, approximately 120 km north of Mt Isa. The Mt Gordon operation was producing copper in concentrate at an annual production rate of approximately 20 kt before it was put under care and maintenance in February 2009. Development of Esperanza South underground mine was also stopped after developing 967 meters due to significant reduction in copper prices.

The operation has ability to mine 1.2 mtpa of ore from Mammoth underground decline operation Mining of the Esperanza open cut was completed in November 2005.

In February 2010, a trial for processing of Esperanza Low Grade (ELG) ore commenced. The trial is currently in progress.

A pre-qualification tender to re-open Mammoth underground was completed and indications are that significant savings in mining costs are attainable. A full tender process is being planned with the view of re-opening the underground by second half of the ongoing financial year.

Exploration activities continue as per the Company’s long term strategy.

Hindalco Copper Smelter

Hindalco Industries Limited is the flagship company of the Aditya Birla group and has emerged as a market leader in the Indian copper industry. Birla Copper is a unit of Hindalco Industries Limited having a copper smelter with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes per annum and commenced commercial production in May 1998.

Aditya Birla Minerals’ Queensland and Western Australian copper mines are integral to the business operations of Birla Copper. The underground mining at both the Queensland and Western Australian copper mine accounts towards the copper smelters’ recognition as one of the largest single location copper smelters in the world.

Both Aditya Birla Minerals and Hindalco have a reputation for efficient copper operations, providing copper investment opportunities that exceed and extend mining capabilities.

For further background and information on copper production, exploration or copper investment opportunities, contact us .