article in the west australian

Aditya Birla points to copper price after speeding ticket
9th April 2009, 13:15 WST

Copper miner Aditya Birla has brushed off a sharp spike in its shares attributing it to the rising copper price.

Responding to a query from the Australian Securities Exchange, the company said it was not aware of any specific information that had not been released to the market to explain the surge in its share price from 16 cents on Friday to an intraday high of 28.5 cents today.

However the company noted the price of copper on the London Metals Exchange had risen over the past week.

A recent rally saw prices jump more than 20 per cent in the month of March alone.

“This along with general sentiment in the market may provide some explanation for the increase in price and increase in volumes in the company’s securities,” Aditya Birla said in a statement.

In January, Aditya Birla put its underground Mt Gordon mine in Queensland on care and maintenance because of a sharp fall in the metal’s price.

It said the operation would be reviewed at the end of the March quarter.

In February the company sacked 26 workers and cut the hours of remaining staff at its Nifty mine in the Pilbara as part of an efficiency drive after earlier suspending its crushing and stacking operations.

At 1pm, Aditya Birla was trading at 25 cents, up 4.5 cents, or 21.95 per cent.

The price is a far cry from its 52-week high of $3 recorded in May last year.