Aditya Birla Minerals : ASX Release for the Quarter Ended 31st March 2016

1da2d09f-cb24-40e9-847c-26269d63c737.pdf Aditya Birla Minerals Limited ABN 37 103 515 037

Level 3

256 Adelaide Terrace Septimus Roe Square Perth

Western Australia 6000 Australia

PO Box 3074

East Perth

Western Australia 6892 Australia

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www.adityabirlaminerals.com.au

Aditya Birla Minerals Limited

ASX RELEASE For the Quarter ended 31st March 2016

For Further Information

Aditya Birla Minerals Limited Neel Patnaik - Managing Director

Shanti Dugar - Chief Financial Officer

Peter Torre - Company Secretary Telephone [phone]

Facsimile [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

ADITYA BIRLA MINERALS LIMITED Fourth Quarter Ended 31st March 2016

Highlights

• 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 concluded

  On 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.