Business Review
Operations Review
Operations Review Zinc-Lead-Silver











Zinc-Lead-Silver graph
(in US$ millions, except as stated) FY 2010 FY 2009 % change
Production – zinc (kt)      
   Mined metal content 683 651 4.9
   Refined metal 578 552 4.7
Production – lead (kt)      
   Mined metal content 86 84 2.4
   Saleable metal 64 60 6.7
Production – saleable silver (moz) 4.46 3.38 32.0
Average LME zinc cash settlement prices (US$ per tonne) 1,936 1,563 23.9
Average LME lead cash settlement prices (US$ per tonne) 1,990 1,660 19.9
Unit costs      
   Zinc (US$ per tonne) 850 710 19.7
   Zinc (other than royalty) (US$ per tonne) 698 609 14.6
Revenue1 1,651.7 1,209.1 36.6
EBITDA 982.8 603.3 62.9
EBITDA margin 59.5% 50.2% –
Operating profit 918.4 546.2 67.5
1 FY 2009 revenue includes US$6.4 million for sale of surplus power. EBITDA and EBITDA margin is on revenue excluding surplus power.


Production Performance
Mined metal production for zinc and lead from all our mines was 769 kt in FY 2010, up 5% over FY 2009, primarily due to improved operational performance in the mines.

Refined zinc and lead production in FY 2010 was 578 kt and 64 kt respectively, an increase of 5% and 7% respectively, over the previous year due to improved operational efficiencies. The new 210 ktpa zinc smelter at Rajpura Dariba and the new 1 mtpa concentrator at Rampura Agucha were commissioned at the end of Q4, three months ahead of schedule.

Production of silver in FY 2010 was a record 4.46 million troy ounces, up 32% compared with FY 2009. This increase was primarily due to increased mine production and improvement in silver recovery.