Business Description:
Aditya Birla Minerals Limited (ABY) is a copper mining, development and exploration company with operations in Western Australia and Queensland. ABY's projects include the Nifty Copper Operation and Mt Gordon Copper Operation. Concentrates produced are shipped to the Hindalco-owned 500,000 tpa rated Dahej copper smelter in India.

Strategy Analysis:
ABY plan to maximise total shareholder returns over the long term via targeting both organic and inorganic growth. In order to implement a strategy of organic growth ABY focuses on: 1. Scale efficiency: pursuing expansion opportunities that generate additional economies of scale at its existing operations. 2. Operational productivity: continuing existing operation productivity programmes at both the Nifty and Mt Gordon mines and achieving resource and reserve expansion. 3. Commodity price exposure consistent with the policy of minimal commodity and currency hedging in order to leverage the market price for copper. 4. Resource renewal: seeking to extend the economic life of existing mines and leverage existing infrastructure through exploration in the vicinity of current operations. Recent economic uncertainty has prompted ABY to place the Nifty oxide and Mammoth projects on care and maintenance whilst near term exploration has been limited to high potential targets. ABY is also targeting additional cost and efficiency initiatives. Aditya Birla Minerals reported NPAT down 58% to $12.84m for the half-year ended 30 September 2011. Revenues from ordinary activities were $234.04m, down 10.7% from the same period last year. Basic and diluted EPS were 4.10 cents compared to 9.76 cents last year. Net operating cash flow was $5.12m compared to $34.35m last year. No dividend was declared.