London 12/05/2016 - Birla Copper has extended the maintenance period at its Dahej smelter in Gujarat by at least 20 days, FastMarkets understands.
The Indian copper producer had already planned 25 days of maintenance at Dahej, which produces 500,000 tonnes per year of refined copper, at the start of April.
But the company has now provisionally extended this to 50 days after uncovering problems with the plant's furnace surface during the original maintenance period, sources with knowledge of the matter told FastMarkets.
Birla, for which Hindalco accepcted an offer from Australian gold producer Metals X in April, is re-bricking the furnace and expects to finish this by the middle to the end of May, sources said.
But production has been affected and the company has had to defer scheduled deliveries of copper concentrates to its plant, multiple sources said.
The extension means that Dahej will consume roughly 200,000 tonnes fewer of concentrate (27-28-percent copper content) this year rather than 100,000 tonnes fewer, which would have been the case had the maintenance period not been extended.
Birla was not available for comment.
Treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for clean, standard grade copper concentrates have been climbing steadily since March when smelters and traders rushed to cover positions after extended annual supply negotiations.
Smelter buying terms for copper concentrates were quoted at $90-95 per tonne/ 9-9.5 cents per pound two weeks ago but have been firming closer to the 2016 benchmark level of $97.35/9.735 cents, sources across the market said today.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)