Vedanta (VEDL) 20-F2022 FY Annual report (foreign)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Item 17  ☐    Item 18  ☐

Yes  ☐    No  ☒

In this Annual Report, we refer to information regarding the zinc, oil and gas, iron ore, copper, aluminium, steel and power industries and our competitors from market research reports, analyst reports and other publicly available sources. Although we believe that this information is reliable, we have not independently verified the accuracy and completeness of the information. We caution you not to place undue reliance on this data.

References to “lb” are to the imperial pounds (mass) equivalent to 0.4536 kilograms, references to “mt” or “tons” are to metric tons, references to “mmt” are to million metric tons, references to “tpd” are to tons per day, references to “tpa” are to tons per annum, a unit of mass equivalent to 1,000 kilograms or 2,204.6 lb, references to “mtpa” are to million tons per annum, “mmtpa” are to million metric tons per annum, references to “wmt” are to wet metric tons, references to “dmt” are to dry metric tons, references to “oz” are to ounces, with one kilogram being equivalent to 32.1507 oz and one ton equivalent to 32,151 oz, references to “mm” are to millimeters, references to “ha” are to hectares, references to “kms” are to kilometers, a unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters or 107,639 square feet, references to “GW” are to giga watts, references to “kt” are to kilo tons, references to “bbls” are to barrels, references to “blpd” are to barrels of liquid per day, references to “boe” are barrel of oil equivalent, references to “mmboe” are to million barrels of oil equivalent, references to “bboe” are to billion barrel of oil equivalent, references to “mmbopd” are to million barrels of oil per day, references to “kbopd” are to kilo barrels of oil per day, references to “bopd” are to barrels of oil per day, references to “boepd” are to barrels of oil equivalent per day, references to “tcm” are to trillion cubic meters, references to “mmscmd” are to million metric standard cubic meter per day, references to “mscf” are to thousand standard cubic feet, references to “mmscf” are to million metric standard cubic feet, references to “mmscfd” are to million metric standard cubic feet per day, references to “TWh” are to terawatt TWh hours, references to “bcf” are to billion cubic feet, ‘bwpd” are barrels of water per dayx and references to “TcRc” are to treatment and refining charges. References to net oil and gas production are to the entitlement interest production of Vedanta Limited’s - oil and gas business and its subsidiaries, in which the Ravva royalty is not netted off. References to “GoI” are to Government of India.

This Annual Report contains “forward-looking statements” as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about our company and our industry. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “will,” “project,” “seek,” “should” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, the discussions of our business strategy and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, liquidity and capital resources. We caution you that reliance on any forward-looking statement involves risks and uncertainties, and that, although we believe that the assumptions on which our forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate and, as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions could be materially incorrect. Factors which could cause these assumptions to be incorrect include, but are not limited to:

These and other factors are more fully discussed in “Item 3. Key Information - D. Risk Factors,” “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” and elsewhere in this Annual Report. In the light of these and other uncertainties, you should not conclude that we will necessarily achieve any plans, objectives or projected financial results referred to in any of the forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we do not undertake to release revisions to any of these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Not applicable

Not applicable

The selected consolidated financial data presented below as of March 31, 2021, and 2022 and for the years ended March 31, 2020, 2021 and 2022 has been derived from our consolidated financial statements included herein, which have been prepared in conformity with IFRS as issued by the IASB. The consolidated financial statements as of March 31, 2021, and 2022 and for the years ended March 31, 2020, 2021, and 2022 have been audited by S.R. Batliboi & Co. LLP, India, our independent registered public accounting firm, and included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

Not applicable

The following summary provides an overview of the risks related to our businesses we are exposed to in the normal course of our business activities. The summary does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full risk factors discussion immediately following this summary. We encourage you to read the full risk factors carefully.

Numerous governmental permits, approvals and licenses are required for our operations as the industries in which we operate and seek to operate are subject to several laws and extensive regulation by national, state and local authorities in jurisdictions including India, South Africa, Namibia, UAE, Ireland, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Liberia and any other jurisdictions where we may operate in the future. Our operations are also subject to laws, regulations and standards relating to employment, protection of the health and safety of our employees, and the environment, including conservation and climate change. Evolving regulations, standards and stakeholder expectations could result in increased cost, litigation or threaten the viability of operations in extreme cases. For instance, we are required to obtain various environmental and labor-related approvals in connection with our operations in India, including clearances from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (“MoEF&CC”), GoI and from the relevant pollution control boards in various states in India in which we operate in order to establish and operate our facilities. Some of these approvals are valid for certain specified periods of time and require periodic renewals, such as consents to operate under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, as amended, and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 from the relevant Pollution Control Boards.

The Government approval is also required, generally, for the continuation of mining as well as oil and gas exploration and production activities in India and other jurisdictions, and such approval can be revoked for a variety of circumstances by the GoI, Indian courts or other authorities. Any general suspension of mining activities by the Government of a jurisdiction governing our mining operations could have the effect of suspending or limiting production from our operations. For example, our total iron ore production declined from 13.8 mmt in fiscal year 2012 to 0.6 mmt in fiscal year 2015 due to the forced suspension of mining activities in Goa. The suspension orders were withdrawn by the Goa State Government in 2015 and operations recommenced in January 2015. The Hon’ble Supreme Court passed its final order on the matter on February 7, 2018, wherein it set aside the second renewal of the mining leases granted by the state of Goa. The Hon’ble Supreme Court directed all lease holders operating under such second renewal to stop all mining operations with effect from March 16, 2018 until fresh mining leases (not fresh renewals or other renewals) and fresh environmental clearances are granted under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (“MMDR Act”). Our mines in Goa were affected by this judgement of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Subsequent to this judgement, the Company had filed for representation before the Goa State Government seeking extension of the validity of our leases in accordance with the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015 (“MMDR Amendment Act”) which provides that all leases granted prior to the commencement of MMDR Amendment Act were deemed to be granted for a tenure of 50 years, which was not considered by the Goa State Government citing directions in the Hon’ble Supreme Court order dated February 7, 2018. Writ Petition filed before the High Court of Bombay at Goa against the letter of the Goa State Government was dismissed by the High Court of Bombay on the ground that it will not be proper for the High Court of Bombay to grant the relief sought therein. The Company has challenged the order of High Court of Bombay before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, in which notice has been issued to parties and the Goa State Government has filed a supportive affidavit. Separately, the Company and Goa State Government has filed review petition against the order dated February 7, 2018. The review petition was dismissed by order dated July 9, 2021, on the grounds of limitation and the SLP which was filed against the order of High Court of Bombay was disposed of by order dated September 7, 2021. In May 2022 we have received notices from the Goa State Government directing us to comply with the provisions of Rule 12 (1) (hh) of the Mineral (other than Atomic and Hydrocarbons Energy Minerals) Concession Rules, 2016 within a period of one month with effect from May 6, 2022, to June 6, 2022. The compliance under the said provision requires the lessees to remove any ore or mineral, engines, machinery, plant, buildings structures, tramways, railways and other work, erections and conveniences on the leased land within the above-mentioned period of one month. Anything on the leased land which has not been removed by the lessee within a period of one from the date of direction shall become the deemed property of the Goa State Government.

For example, in March 2013, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (“TNPCB”) ordered the closure of the 400,000 tpa copper smelter at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, India due to complaints regarding a noxious gas leak by local residents. The plant was allowed to reopen vide an order of the National Green Tribunal (“NGT”) but was ultimately ordered to close by the High Court of Madras vide its judgement dated August 18, 2020.

We have operations and projects in India, South Africa, Namibia, UAE, Ireland, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Liberia. We are exposed to the political, economic, legal, regulatory and social risks of the countries in which we operate or intend to operate. These risks potentially include expropriation and nationalization of property, instability in political, economic or financial systems, uncertainty arising from underdeveloped legal and regulatory systems, corruption, civil strife or labor unrest, acts of war, armed conflict, terrorism, outbreaks of infectious diseases, prohibitions, limitations or price controls on hydrocarbon exports and limitations or the imposition of tariffs or duties on imports of certain goods. For instance, the sudden announcement of a 15% export tax on finished steel and came into effect from May 22, 2022. The combination of a finished steel export tax, an increase of iron ore export taxes and a removal of import duties on coking coal have eased cost of production in the region have negatively affected domestic Indian price sentiment. As Covid-19 cases recede, there is visibility gradual re-opening of various cities in China which will help demand recovery. If the re-opening does go through smoothly, the current low to negative margins is unlikely to continue and support prices in the near term in both China and Far east markets. With the government’s efforts to normalise logistics, production has improved and if pent-up demand does not come through then we might see a wave of low-priced steel exports to clear the system.

Countries in which we have operations or intend to have operations have transportation, telecommunications and financial services infrastructures that may present logistical challenges not associated with doing business in more developed locales. Furthermore, we may have difficulty in ascertaining our legal obligations and enforcing any rights that we may have.

For example, upon the expiry of oil and gas licenses in India, contractors are generally required under the terms of relevant licenses or local law to conduct decommissioning or abandonment activities with regard to the equipment and wells and generally make good production sites. There can be no assurance that, in the future, we will not incur decommissioning charges in excess of those currently provided for, since local or national governments may require decommissioning to be carried out in circumstances where there is no express obligation to do so, particularly in case of future oil and gas license renewals.

Our results of operations have been and are expected to continue to be substantially dependent on the reserves, production and the cost of production at certain of our key assets, and any interruption in the exploration, development and production activities at those assets for any reason could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have in recent years initiated significant expansion plans for our existing operations and planned greenfield projects, which involve significant capital expenditure. Our planned expansions and new projects are subject to a number of risks that may adversely affect the prospects and profitability of such projects, including the following:

If our existing oil and gas, zinc, copper, iron ore and bauxite reserves cannot be extracted at competitive costs or if we cannot secure additional reserves that can be extracted at competitive costs, we may become more dependent upon third parties for the metal ore, or our production volumes will decline. As our reserves decline as we extract the mineral ore or crude oil, our future profitability and operating margins depend upon our ability to access reserves that have geological characteristics enabling extraction at competitive costs. Replacement reserves may not be available when required or, if available, may not be of a quality capable of being extracted at costs comparable to the existing or exhausted mines and fields.

Our ability to obtain additional reserves in the future could be limited by restrictions under our existing or future debt agreements, competition from other metal and oil and gas companies, lack of suitable acquisition candidates, government regulatory and licensing restrictions, difficulties in obtaining mining leases and surface rights or the inability to acquire such properties on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. To increase production from our existing mines or oil fields, we must apply for governmental and joint operation partner approvals, which we may not be able to obtain in a timely manner, or at all.

We are subject to operating conditions and events common to the industry in which we operate which are beyond our control that could, among other things, increase our mining, transportation or production costs, disrupt or halt operations at our mines and production facilities permanently or for varying lengths of time or interrupt the delivery of our products to our customers. The occurrence of any of these conditions or events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. These conditions and events include:

The impact of climate change and climate change-driven responses, such as a global transition to a low carbon economy on our operations and our customers’ operations, remains uncertain, but the regulatory, market-risks associated with climate change as well as the physical effects of climate change could have an adverse effect on us and our customers as experts believe that climate change may be associated with more extreme weather conditions. Extreme weather due to climate change can lead to epidemics as well as business disruptions. Climate change events can result in physical damage to our building infrastructure and other physical assets, disrupt the continued functioning of infrastructures such as the transportation network and utilities in the locations where we operate and decrease in morale of employees. Some of our locations can experience extreme weather events like floods and cyclones for droughts. These events can impact our production capacity or hamper our supply chains.

The mines and minerals, commercial power generation, oil and gas and steel industries are highly competitive. We continue to compete with other industry participants in the search for and acquisition of mineral and oil and gas assets and licenses. Competitors include companies with, in many cases greater financial resources, local contacts, staff and facilities than ours. Competition for exploration and production licenses as well as for other investment or acquisition opportunities may increase in the future. This may lead to increased costs in the carrying out of our activities, reduced available growth opportunities and may have a material adverse effect on our businesses, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We source a majority of our copper concentrate and a portion of alumina requirements from third parties. The smelter at Tuticorin has been closed during the fiscal year 2019 and remains closed, therefore the copper anodes and blister are being procured from external sources for production of copper cathode at the Silvassa Refinery. For example, in fiscal year 2022, we sourced 100% of our copper anode and blister and 55.38% of our alumina requirement was sourced from third parties. Profitability and operating margins of our copper and aluminium business depends on the ability of the suppliers to ensure timely delivery of the contracted volumes. For our aluminium business, sourcing of key raw materials such as bauxite and alumina from third parties are key drivers of our cost of production and hence our profitability and margins. Almost 50% of our requirements for bauxite and alumina are dependent on third party suppliers. Similarly, sourcing coal at a competitive price impacts profitability and margins.

Our ability to mine the land on which we have been granted mining lease rights and to make use of our other industrial and office premises is dependent on the acquisition of surface rights. Surface rights and title to land are required to be negotiated separately with landowners, although there is no guarantee that these rights will be granted. Any delay outside of the ordinary course of business in obtaining or inability to obtain or any challenge to the title or leasehold rights to surface rights could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We do not wholly own all of our operating subsidiaries, although we hold the majority of the total outstanding share capital in all of our subsidiaries. Although we have direct or indirect management control of HZL, BALCO, Black Mountain Mining, ESL, FPL and Avanstrate, each of these companies has other shareholders who, in some cases, hold substantial interests. As a result of the non-controlling interests in our subsidiaries and affiliates and the Indian stock exchanges listings of HZL, these subsidiaries may be subject to additional legal or regulatory requirements, or we may be prevented from taking certain courses of action without the prior approval of a particular or a specified percentage of shareholders and/or regulatory bodies (under shareholders’ agreements, relationship agreements or by operation of law). The existence of minority or other interests in, and stock exchange listings of our subsidiaries may limit our ability to increase our equity interests in these subsidiaries, combine similar operations, utilize synergies that may exist between the operations of different subsidiaries, move funds among the different parts of our businesses or reorganize the structure of our business in a tax efficient manner, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We commenced arbitration proceedings against the GoI with respect to exercise of our call option to acquire the remaining shares of HZL held by the GoI, in accordance with the terms of the shareholders’ agreement between the GoI and us. The GoI denied our right to exercise the option on the basis that the shareholders’ agreement contravenes the provisions of Section 111A of the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956 and is therefore void. While the arbitration was in process, a PIL was filed seeking restraint on disposal of residual shares by GoI. The Hon’ble Supreme Court passed a final order on November 18, 2021, allowing the GoI’s proposal to divest its entire stake in HZL in the open market in accordance with the rules and regulations of Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”). The Hon’ble Supreme Court also directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to register a regular case in relation to the process followed for the disinvestment of HZL in the year 2002 by the GoI.

We estimate the annual metal production and the mine life through a detailed mine plan for both open pit and underground mines and the oil and gas production rates and field life through the Field Development Plans (FDP). These mine plans and FDP are prepared based on our estimates of future mine and field performance. Future performance is subject to a number of risks including but not limited to geological conditions being more complex than originally predicted, ore grade being different from estimates, future producer or injector well performance, plant operating efficiencies being less than originally forecasted, inadequate power, water or utility supplies, and other constraints. Any material falls in production from the current production level or from the estimates due to some or all of the risks detailed above may adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our profitability and competitiveness are in large part dependent upon our ability to maintain a low cost of production as we sell commodity products with prices, we are unable to influence. Unless we continue to invest in newer technologies and equipment and are successful at integrating such newer technologies and equipment to make our operations more efficient, our cost of production relative to our competitors may increase and we may cease to be profitable or competitive. Newer technologies and equipment are expensive, and the necessary investments may be substantial. Moreover, such investments entail additional risks including whether they will achieve the desired objectives to justify the capital expenditures incurred in deploying the new technology.

Our financing agreements contain certain restrictive covenants and events of default that limit our ability to undertake certain types of transactions or ability to expand, any of which could adversely affect our business. These covenants require us to maintain certain financial ratios and in certain cases, obtain the prior consent of our lenders for various activities, including, among others,

Our future borrowings may also contain similar restrictive provisions. Low commodity prices may adversely impact our profitability and therefore our ability to meet the financial covenants and ratios. If we fail to meet our debt service obligations or covenants (or receive approvals from our lenders to undertake certain transactions) under the financing agreements, the relevant lenders could declare us to be in default under the terms of agreements, accelerate the maturity of our obligations or take over the financed project or other security made available to the lenders. We cannot assure you that, in the event of any such acceleration, we will have sufficient resources to repay borrowings. In such an event, we may be forced to renegotiate our financing agreements with our lenders on terms that may not be favourable to us. Our future borrowings may also contain similar restrictive provisions.

We are involved in several legal and arbitration proceedings including matters relating to, alleged violations of environmental, tax, Indian laws and regulations, land and labor disputes and other related issues. A final judgment against us or our directors in one or more of these disputes may result in damages that we will be required to pay to the other party, injunctions against us any of which may require us to cease or limit our operations and such decisions or judgments may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

We currently benefit from significant tax holidays, exemptions and tax deferral schemes. These tax holidays, exemptions and tax deferral schemes are for limited periods. For example, HZL’s captive power plant at Dariba benefits from tax holiday on the profits generated from transfers of power to HZL’s other units. We also have windmills located in states such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and refining and processing plants at Pantnagar, which are eligible for tax holiday. However, Fiscal Year 2021 was the last year of claim by the Pantnagar tax holiday unit.

In addition, we are subject to a Minimum Alternate Tax (“MAT”) which sets a minimum amount of tax that must be paid each year based on our book profits. The effective MAT rate is 17.47%, after applying surcharge and education cess, for Indian companies. The MAT prevents us from taking full advantage of any tax holidays, exemptions or tax deferral schemes that may be available to us.

Under the terms of the shareholders’ agreement between the GoI and erstwhile SIIL, we agreed that we would ensure that HZL would implement a 1 mmtpa greenfield zinc smelter plant at Kapasan in the state of Rajasthan (the “Kapasan Project”), within 5 years from April 11, 2002. The shareholders’ agreement provided that if within one year from this date, we reviewed the feasibility of the Kapasan Project and determined that it was not in the best economic interests of HZL, which determination required the report of an independent expert, and the board of directors of HZL confirmed this determination, then we would not be obliged to ensure that HZL implement the Kapasan Project. In 2003, HZL notified the GoI that the Kapasan Project would not be undertaken and that a report of an independent expert may not be required. While we have not received any notice of breach under the provisions of the shareholders’ agreement between the GoI and us with respect to HZL, the GoI may claim that we have breached the covenant related to the Kapasan Project as mentioned in the shareholders’ agreement triggering an event of default. The GoI, under the terms of the shareholders’ agreement, may become entitled to the right, which is exercisable at any time within 90 days from the day it became aware of such event of default, to either sell any or all of the shares of HZL held by the GoI to us at a price equivalent to 150.0% of the market value of such shares, or purchase any or all of the shares of HZL held by us at a price equivalent to 50.0% of the market value of such shares.

Our efforts to execute our business plans will place significant demands on our management and other resources and we will be required to continue to improve operational, financial, and other internal controls. Our ability to maintain and grow our business will depend on our ability to attract, train and retain personnel with skills that enable us to keep pace with growing demands and evolving industry standards. We are dependent to a large degree, on the continued service and performance of our senior management team and other key team members in our business divisions. These key personnel possess technical and business capabilities that are difficult to replace. The loss or diminution of services of members of our senior management or other key team members, or our failure to retain our key personnel at various managerial positions could have an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and prospects. In addition, our business develops and expands, we believe that our future success will depend on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled and qualified personnel, which is not guaranteed.

Mining, metal refining, metal smelting and fabrication operations and oil and gas extraction, require a skilled and experienced labor force. If we experience a shortage of skilled and experienced labor, our labor productivity could decrease and costs could increase, our operations may be interrupted or we may be unable to maintain our current production or increase our production as otherwise planned, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and business prospects.

We are dependent on the capacity and reliability of the communications, information and technology systems supporting our operations. We are exposed to operational risks, such as data entry or operational errors or interruptions of our financial, accounting, compliance and other data processing systems, whether caused by the failure to prevent or mitigate data losses and other security breaches, or other cyber security threats or attacks, fire or other disaster and power or telecommunications failure, which could result in a disruption of our business, liability to third parties, regulatory intervention, or reputational damage, and thus have a material adverse effect on our business.

As we grow and our reliance on information technology and systems increases, protecting our systems from cyber security attacks and threats may become increasingly challenging and costly. The threats to the security of our digital infrastructure continue to evolve rapidly and we rely on digital systems and network technology. We may be unable to prevent or address, any disruption to the operation of our information technology systems in a timely manner. Any such failure could result in our inability to perform, or result in prolonged delays in the performance of, critical business and operational functions, the loss of key business information and data, or a failure to comply with regulatory requirements. There may be a risk of operational unavailability, impact on service and safety with the extensive usage of remote access including privileged access to IT infrastructure and remote access on plant site as well due to the pandemic. Users may become victim of targeted Covid-19/other theme based phishing attacks (spear phishing) which may cause significant data loss including Personally Identifiable Information (“PII”) and may impact regulatory compliances. The threats to the security of our digital infrastructure continue to evolve rapidly and we rely on digital systems and network technology. Any significant breach or failure of our digital infrastructure and/or cyber security attacks due to negligence, information technology security failure, disgruntled employees or any other reason could seriously disrupt our operations resulting in loss or misuse of data or sensitive information, disruption to our business, damage to our assets, legal or regulatory breaches and potentially legal liability. These could result in significant costs and/or reputational consequences. Increased cyber warfare trends targeting essential services may cause operations disruption and remote working may impact the cyber incident responsiveness and increase response and recovery time.

We face a risk of authorized access to our various sites and offices. Any access that is not authorized could lead to loss of our sensitive data and may cause harm to our property. This could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

The operating blocks of our oil and gas vertical operate under the PSC regime. These operating blocks have joint venture partners.

The magnitude of COVID-19 pandemic, although badly impacted millions of people worldwide including India, has been declining due to rollout of large-scale vaccination, improvement in health infrastructure and diminished lethal power of the subsequent variants of the COVID-19 virus. The operations of Vedanta Limited have been largely insulated from the adverse impact of the virus during FY 2021-2022 as the GoI ensured business continuity and active measures undertaken by the business units for the safety of the employees like vaccination drives at various locations and encouraging people to follow COVID-appropriate behavior.

We are required to maintain internal control over financial reporting and to report any material weakness in those controls. We must perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal controls over financial reporting to allow management to report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting. Also, our independent registered public accounting firm, after conducting its own independent testing, may issue a report that is qualified if it is not satisfied with our internal controls.

Historically, the international commodity prices for copper, zinc, oil and gas, iron ore and aluminium and the prevailing market TcRc rate for copper have been volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to relatively minor changes in the supply of, and demand for, such commodities, market uncertainties, the overall performance of world or regional economies and the related cyclicality in industries, we directly serve and a variety of other factors. Commodity prices and the market TcRc rate for copper may continue to be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in the future for a variety of reasons.

Price is also influenced by the demand of the various industries steel is used for. If the auto industry is strong, for example, demand for steel may be higher and the same goes for construction, packaging, and other businesses that rely heavily upon steel.

There are uncertainties inherent in estimating the quantity of ore reserves and mineral resources and in projecting future rates of production, including factors beyond our control. Estimating the amount of ore reserves and mineral resources is a subjective process, and the accuracy of any estimate is a function of the quality of available data and engineering and geological interpretation and judgment. Estimates of different competent persons or experts may vary, and results of exploration, mining and production subsequent to the date of an estimate may lead to revision of estimates. For example, fluctuations in the market price of ore and other commodities, reduced recovery rates or increased production costs due to inflation or other factors may render proven and probable ore reserves containing relatively lower grades of mineralisation uneconomic to exploit and may ultimately result in a restatement of ore reserves. If the assumptions upon which estimates of ore reserves or resources have been based prove to be incorrect, or if ore reserve estimates differ materially from mineral quantities or grades that we may actually recover, estimates of mine or field life may prove inaccurate and market price fluctuations and changes in operating and capital costs may render certain ore reserves, mineral deposits or oil and gas deposits uneconomical to extract.

Copper, zinc and aluminium are sold in the Indian market and they attract import duties. The GoI may reduce or abolish customs duties on any of these commodities in the future, although the timing and extent of such reductions cannot be predicted. As we sell the majority of the commodities we produce in India, any reduction in Indian tariffs on imports will increase imports of these commodities in India, which may impact our domestic market share and would have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. However, it is less probable that GoI may cut import duties at any time since its emphasis is on “Atmanirbhar Bharat” with particular focus on boosting domestic manufacturing.

Changes in tax laws could also result in additional taxes payable by us. For example, the GoI raised the export duty on iron ore fines and lumps twice during fiscal year 2011, first to 20% with effect from March 1, 2011, and then to 30% with effect from December 31, 2011. Currently, export duty is applicable on iron ore only having Fe content equal to or more than 58%.

We are a majority-owned and controlled subsidiary of Vedanta. Volcan and its wholly owned subsidiary hold 100% of the share capital and 100% of the voting rights of Vedanta. Volcan is a holding company, 100% beneficially owned and controlled by the Trust. Conclave is the trustee of the Trust and the sole registered shareholder of Volcan and consequently controls all voting and investment decisions of the Trust. Vedanta shares beneficially owned by Volcan may be deemed to be beneficially owned by the Trust, of which Mr. Anil Agarwal is the protector and since October 16, 2014, one of the beneficiaries. Vedanta, Volcan, the Trust, Conclave and Mr. Anil Agarwal are collectively referred to as “Volcan Parties”. We cannot assure you that Vedanta, and in turn we, will be able to operate completely independent of the Volcan Parties. Lack of independence could have a material adverse effect on the other holders of our other equity shares and ADSs.

Vedanta’s control of us means it can determine the allocation of business opportunities among us, itself and its other subsidiaries. Vedanta may determine to have any other entity instead of us, pursue business opportunities in the zinc, oil and gas, copper, iron ore, aluminium or commercial power generation business, or any other business, or cause such companies or us to undertake corporate strategies, the effect of which is to benefit such companies instead of us and which could be detrimental to our interests. If Vedanta were to take any such actions, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected, and the value of our equity shares may decline.

Disputes may arise between Vedanta or other companies in the Vedanta Group and us in a number of areas, including:

Some of our directors and executive officers are directors or executive officers of Vedanta. Presence of executive officers of Vedanta on our Board could create or appear to create potential conflicts of interest and other issues with respect to their fiduciary duties to us when our directors and officers are faced with decisions that could have different implications for Vedanta than for us.

We qualify as “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE rules as Vedanta has effective control of a majority of our equity shares. This will allow Vedanta to, among other things, control the composition of our Board of directors and direct our management and policies.

In fiscal year 2022, approximately 56.1% of our revenue was derived from commodities that we sold to customers in India. The performance and growth of our business are necessarily dependent on the health of the overall Indian economy. Any downturn in the rate of economic growth in India, whether due to political instability or regional conflicts, economic slowdown elsewhere in the world or otherwise, may have a material adverse effect on demand for the commodities we produce. The Indian economy is also largely driven by the performance of the agriculture sector, which depends on the quality of the monsoon, which is difficult to predict. In the past, economic slowdowns have harmed manufacturing industries, including companies engaged in the steel, copper, zinc, aluminium and power sectors, as well as the customers of manufacturing industries. Any future slowdown in the Indian economy could have a material adverse effect on the demand for the commodities we produce and, as a result, on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, the Indian securities market and the Indian economy are influenced by economic and market conditions in other countries. Although economic conditions are different in each country, investors’ reactions to developments in one country can have adverse effect on the securities of companies in other countries, including India. A loss of investor confidence in the financial systems of other emerging markets may cause volatility in Indian financial markets and, indirectly, in the Indian economy in general. Any worldwide financial instability could also have a negative impact on the Indian economy, including the movement of exchange rates and interest rates in India. Any slowdown in the Indian economy, or future volatility in global commodity prices, could adversely affect the growth of our business in India.

Terrorist attacks and other acts of violence or war involving India or other neighboring countries may adversely affect the Indian markets and the worldwide financial markets. The occurrence of any of these events may result in a loss of business confidence, which could potentially lead to economic recession and generally have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our mines and production facilities are spread across India, and our sales force is spread throughout the country. Natural calamities such as floods, rains, heavy downpours and earthquakes could disrupt our mining and production activities and distribution chains and damage our storage facilities.

India has experienced significant price inflation in the past. In addition, international prices of crude oil and natural gas have recently experienced significant volatility. Inflation, increased transportation costs and an increase in energy prices generally, which may be caused by a rise in the price of oil, or an increase in the price of coking coal and iron ore in particular, could cause the Company’s costs for raw material inputs required for production of our products to increase, which may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition if we cannot pass these added costs on to customers.

India has stringent labor legislation that protects the interests of workers, including legislation that sets forth detailed procedures for industrial dispute resolution and employee compensation for injury or death sustained in the course of employment, and imposes financial obligations on employers upon employee layoffs. This may make it difficult for us to maintain flexible human resource policies, discharge employees or downsize, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Global market and economic conditions have been unprecedented and challenging and have resulted in heightened volatility in the financial market in most major economies in the recent years. Continued concerns about the systemic impact of potential long-term and wide-spread recession, energy costs, geopolitical issues, the availability and cost of credit and the global housing and mortgage markets have contributed to increased market volatility and diminished expectations across various economies. These conditions, combined with volatile oil prices, declining business and consumer confidence and increased unemployment, have contributed to volatility of unprecedented levels.

Our ADSs have been delisted from the NYSE effective close of trading on November 8, 2021, the price of the ADSs was quoted in US dollars. Our equity shares are quoted in Indian Rupees on the NSE and BSE. Any dividends in respect of our equity shares are paid in Indian Rupees and subsequently converted into US dollars for distribution to ADSs holders.

Under current Indian exchange control regulations, subject to certain conditions and reporting requirements, no prior regulatory approval is required for the sale of any equity shares of an Indian company, by a person resident outside India to a resident of India, provided that the sale of such shares has been carried out a price which is not higher than the fair market value prescribed under the Indian exchange control regulations.

Under the Indian Companies Act, 2013 the holders of equity shares of a company incorporated in India have a preemptive right to subscribe and pay for a proportionate number of shares to maintain their existing ownership percentages prior to the issuance of any new equity shares by the company, unless the preemptive rights have been waived by adopting a special resolution passed by 75% of the shareholders present and voting at a general meeting.

Our Company Identification Number is L13209MH1965PLC291394. Our registered office is presently situated at 1st Floor, ‘C’ wing, Unit 103, Corporate Avenue, Atul Projects, Chakala, Andheri (East), Mumbai - 400 093, Maharashtra, India. Our registered office was relocated from the state of Goa to the state of Maharashtra, with effect from February 2, 2017. The telephone number of our registered office is (91) 022 6643 4500. The register of members of the Company is maintained at the registered office of the Company and also at the office of the Company’s Registrar and Transfer Agent, KFin Technologies Limited (formerly knowns as KFin Technologies Private Limited), Hyderabad. Our website address is http://www.vedantalimited.com.

On September 21, 2020, Vedanta Limited acquired 100% control over Ferro Alloys Corporation Limited (“FACOR”). FACOR is a company in the business of producing Ferro Alloys and owns a ferro chrome plant with a capacity of 80,000 TPA, two operational chrome mines and 100 MW of captive power plant through its subsidiary, FACOR Power Limited (“FPL”).

After the downslide in CY 2020, the Indian economy recovered resiliently in CY 2021, supported by the largest vaccination drive in the world. Compared to a contraction of 6.6% in FY 2021, the Indian economy is expected to grow by 8.7% in FY 2022, as per the Provisional Estimates of National Income of the National Statistical Office (NSO) of India.

Going forward, we expect India to focus on the domestic growth through infrastructure development and effective utilization of these new and existing infrastructures. GoI’s vision to focus on the laying the foundation for the blueprint of Amrit Kaal, the next 25 years till 100 years of India’s independence, aiming at improving the quality of life of its people, big public investment for infrastructure, enhancement of productivity, transition to green energy, climate action and financing of investments. Big public investment for modern infrastructure to make ready India at 100 years of independence will help in accelerating the growth of the economy and is expected to make India and Indian businesses globally competitive. The policy reforms by Indian government will create direct or indirect investment and business opportunities for Vedanta Limited and improve demand for the products of Vedanta Limited in the country. Some of such reform agenda are discussed as below.

In spite of that, India is projected to be the fastest growing major economy in the world in 2022 and 2023, with IMF estimating its GDP growth to be 8.2% in 2022 and 6.9% in 2023.

The financial year started with growing worries about inflation, and a slightly less dovish tone from the US Federal Reserve, hit zinc prices in Q1 FY 2022. The news rattled financial markets and also prompted profit taking in metal markets. The decline in the zinc price and the other metals was given added impetus by the strengthening of the dollar and confirmation that China’s State Reserve Bureau will start selling parcels of metal, zinc included, in the Q2 FY 2022. However, the zinc price subsequently recovered some of its lost ground.

Every year, India loses approximately 3 to 4% of GDP due to corrosion and Indian industries have now slowly started recognizing this fact, leading them to actively seek solutions. In the construction sector, the need for corrosion protection rebars has recently been picked by few domestic rebar manufacturers who are working in collaboration with the International Zinc Association (IZA) to bring continuous galvanized rebar plant in India. Indian Railways, considering safety and longevity of rail tracks and are working on different mechanisms to protect the web area of rail from corrosion.

Vedanta Limited is the largest private sector producer of crude oil in India. Our crude is sold to hydrocarbon refineries and our natural gas is used by the fertiliser industry and the city gas sector in India.

As per International Energy Agency (“IEA”) April 2022 outlook, world oil demand is now expected to average 99.4 mb/d in CY 2022, up by 1.9 mb/d from CY 2021.

An increase in iron ore demand in China and expected lower supply in the short term will be the primary drivers for prices in FY 2022-2023. Prompted by an increased focus on new infrastructure investment and improved credit conditions in China, the prices should be supported near the current high levels for the remainder of 2022. This price is further backed by a shortfall in supply, primarily due to the Ukraine Russia crisis, and an expectation of lower production in Australia and Brazil in Q2 and Q3 of CY 2022 due to anticipation of an elongate seasonal rainfall disrupting production. In China, a transition towards a less emission environment can lead to reduced production in the long run. Boosted by these factors, for CY 2022, the spot price for 62 % Fe iron ore fines (FOB) is forecasted to average US$110 per ton.

Iron ore, a key ingredient in steel which is ultimately used in the construction, infrastructure and automotive sectors. Our iron ore mining operations ceased in Goa from March 2018, pursuant to the order from Hon’ble Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the permitted mining capacity at Karnataka is 5.60 million tons.

Refined copper is predominantly used in manufacturing cables, transformers and motors as well as castings and alloy-based products. The Tuticorin smelter closure adversely impacted our production in India.

Over the medium and long term, we believe copper consumption in India and China is likely to increase, driven by population growth, urbanisation, the rise of aspiring middle class and demand for electric vehicles. These trends are supported by enabling government measures and initiatives. In addition, this high prices for commodities remain a key factor going forward.

The LME aluminium price has seen significant volatility this fiscal year, especially in the last quarter. Post the covid resurgence, the aluminium market is in a growth phase now with dedicated focus to accelerate development. Since lockdown restrictions eased in May 2021, the global recovery has been strong, but with marked differences across countries and sectors. During Q2 and Q3 FY 2022, the energy price skyrocketed due to covid induced closure of coal mines in Australia and higher Indonesian coal demand from China and geopolitical instability in Africa and Eastern Europe. Pertaining to exceptionally higher energy prices, several European smelters closed during the FY 2022 causing a significant deficit in the European markets. The geopolitical crisis in Europe during Q4 of FY 2022 has further worsened the metal availability and energy security of Europe. FY 2022 also witnessed demand growth stabilisation around the world. During the year, India’s primary aluminium demand grew at an average of 14%. However, overall export sales of aluminium from country grew by 6% during FY 2022.

Vedanta Limited operates one of the largest single-location smelters in the world at its Jharsuguda facility with ~2.2 mtpa present aluminium capacity. For the fiscal year 2022, the estimated share for Vedanta Limited (including BALCO) in India for aluminium was approximately 47% among the primary aluminium producers in India, based on internal estimates. Our product range includes aluminium ingots, primary foundry alloys, wire rods, billets, slabs and rolled products. The Company caters to electrical, automotive, building and construction segments, along with a host of other industries, well supported by its high-quality value-added product portfolio. Around 36% of our total aluminium sales globally were value-added products.

During Fiscal year 2022, approximately 27% of our total sales were to the Indian market, specifically for the use in electrical, construction and transportation industries, of which 68% of domestic sales were for value-added products.

Vedanta Limited operates over 9,000 MW diversified power portfolio in India consisting of 97% thermal power and 3% from renewable energy sources.

Of our cumulative power portfolio, 35.3% is used for commercial power, while the remaining 64.7% is intended for captive use. Entire power generated for commercial purposes is backed by long-term Power Purchase Agreements with state distribution companies.

This has opened additional avenues for utilising renewable power in existing thermal power plants. Vedanta has successfully completed pilot projects for using biomass for power generation in its thermal power plants at Jharsuguda that supply power for aluminium production.

Global crude steel production was 456.6 Mt in the first three months of CY 2022, down by 6.8% compared to the same period in CY 2021. Asia and Oceania produced 331.3 Mt of crude steel in the first quarter of CY 2022, a decrease of 7.8% on the first quarter of CY 2021. The EU (27) produced 36.8 Mt of crude steel in the first quarter of CY 2022, down by 3.8% compared to the same quarter of CY 2021. North America’s crude steel production in the first three months of CY 2022 was 28.1 Mt, a decrease of 0.9% compared to the first quarter of CY 2021. Russia and other CIS + Ukraine produced 24.0 Mt of crude steel in the first quarter of CY 2022, a decrease of 8.5% on the first quarter of CY 2021. World steel forecasts that steel demand will grow by 0.4% in CY 2022 to reach 1,840.2 Million Mt after increasing by 2.7% in CY 2021. In CY 2023 steel demand will see further growth of 2.2% to reach 1,881.4 Million Mt. The current forecast is made against the backdrop of the crisis in Ukraine and is subject to high uncertainty.

We completed the acquisition of ESL, an integrated steel plant on June 4, 2018. ESL is primarily selling Wire rod, TMT and DI pipe products in India mainly to the construction, infrastructure and automotive sectors.

Our oil and gas business is primarily owned and operated by Vedanta Limited and its subsidiary – CIHL. The oil and gas business segment has a diversified asset base with 58 blocks in India. The blocks are primarily located across the Indian basins in Barmer, Krishna-Godavari, Cambay, Assam, Gujarat Kutch and Cauvery.

We are engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of iron ore. In India, we own the rights to reserves consisting of 71.41 million tons of iron ore at an average grade of 45.3%, as of March 31, 2022. In addition, we manufacture pig iron and metallurgical coke, and also operate two waste heat recovery plants of 30 MW each in Goa.

Our copper business is principally one of custom smelters. Our assets include a smelter, a refinery, a phosphoric acid plant, a sulphuric acid plant, a copper rod plant and three captive power plants at Tuticorin in Southern India, a refinery and a copper rod plant and three blister/secondary material processing plant at Silvassa in Western India, a precious metal refinery that produces gold and silver, a doré anode plant and a copper rod plant at Fujairah in the UAE. We own the Mt. Lyell copper mine in Tasmania, Australia. The operation of Mt Lyell mine was suspended in January 2014, following a mud slide incident. Subsequently, the operations at Mt. Lyell copper mine has been placed under care and maintenance since July 9, 2014, following a rock falling on the ventilation shaft in June 2014.

Our aluminium business is based out of Chhattisgarh and Odisha. We operate the business in Chhattisgarh through BALCO, in which we have a 51% ownership interest, with the remainder owned by the GoI. We have exercised our option to acquire the GoI’s remaining 49% ownership interest, although the exercise is currently subject to dispute. BALCO’s operations include two bauxite mines, one coal mine, 1,710 MW captive power plants, an alumina refinery (operations of which have been suspended since September 2009), a 245,000 tpa aluminium smelter, a 325,000 tpa aluminium smelting and fabrication facilities in Central India.

We operate multiple power plants across locations in India. Our power business comprises of 600 MW thermal power plant in Jharsuguda, Odisha, 300 MW thermal power plant in BALCO, Chhattisgarh, 106.5 MW thermal power plant in Tamil Nadu and 80 MW thermal power plant and 31.5 MW liquid fuel power plant in Tamil Nadu and a 1,980 MW thermal power plant in Mansa, Punjab.

BALCO used to operate two independent power plants units with a total installed capacity of 600 MW which are a part of its 4 x 300 MW power plant. However, it now just operates a 300 MW unit as an independent power plant. The other 300 MW unit has been converted to a captive power plant, as per order received from Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission (“CSERC”) for conversion of 300 MW capacity from IPP to CPP.

We operate the steel business through ESL in which we have 95.49% ownership interest as at March 31, 2022 ESL owns and operates an integrated steel manufacturing facility near Bokaro, Jharkhand and has a current capacity of 1.5 mtpa which we plan to expand to 3 mtpa in the upcoming year(s). It primarily consists of one sinter plant, a vertical coke oven plant, two blast furnaces, an oxygen plant, a lime calcination plant, a dolo calcination plant, a steel melting shop, a wire rod mill, a bar mill, a captive power plant and a DI pipe plant. One blast furnace and horizontal coke oven is under commissioning. ESL is selling primarily TMT bars, wire rods, DI pipes, pig iron and steel billets in open market and has established its presence in the domestic market as well as international market

Our strategic goal is to become one of the top diversified natural resources company globally, and our strategy is based on the following five key pillars:

We view strict cost management and increases in productivity as fundamental aspects of our day to day operations and continuously seek to improve efficiency. We continued to be in the first quartile in terms of cost of production in our zinc mining operations worldwide in fiscal year 2022, according to Wood Mackenzie, and we intend to continue to improve our production processes, methods and increase operational efficiencies to further reduce our costs of production in all our businesses. Our current initiatives include:

We are continuously seeking to increase our direct ownership of our underlying businesses to simplify and derive additional synergies and better align cash flows and debt as an integrated group by consolidating our corporate structure and integrating our operations. For example, during fiscal year 2017, we successfully completed our merger with Cairn India Limited (now Vedanta Limited - oil and gas business) and during fiscal year 2018, we had initiated the liquidation of TMHL, TEHL and SSMHL as part of an internal restructuring which has been accepted by Director of Insolvency, Mauritius in fiscal year 2020. TMHL was dissolved with effect from May 19, 2019, TEHL was dissolved with effect from May 21, 2019 and SSMHL was dissolved with effect from May 21, 2019.

Our acquisitions of HZL, BALCO, Sesa Rexsources Limited, Skorpion, Black Mountain Mining, Sterlite Energy, WCL, Cairn India Limited (now Vedanta Limited - oil and gas business), ESL, ASI and FACOR have contributed substantially to our growth. We continually seek new growth and acquisition opportunities in the metals and mining and related businesses in India and elsewhere, including through government privatization programs, where we can leverage our skills and experience. We continue to closely monitor the resource markets in our existing lines of business as well as seek out opportunities in complementary businesses such as coal mining. We also intend to continue to seek out new exploration opportunities for future growth. By selecting opportunities for growth and acquisition carefully and leveraging our skills and experience, we seek to continue to expand our business while maintaining a strong balance sheet and good credit profile.

Health and safety continue to be a high priority for us and we are committed to protect and preserve our license to operate. Our business strategy is about ensuring that growth is maximized in a way that is both sustainable and responsive. The four core pillars - responsible stewardship, building strong relationships, adding and sharing values and strategic communication are designed to support the long term development, ensuring long lasting relationship and providing superior returns to all our stakeholders.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted amendments to its current disclosure rules effective from to modernize the mineral property disclosure requirements for mining registrants. The amendments include the adoption of S-K 1300, which will govern disclosure for mining registrants (the “SEC Mining Modernization Rules”). The SEC Mining Modernization Rules replace the historical property disclosure requirements for mining registrants that were included in the SEC’s Industry Guide 7 and better align disclosure with international industry and regulatory practices. Descriptions in this report of our mineral deposits are prepared in accordance with S-K 1300, as well as similar information provided by other issuers in accordance with S-K 1300, may not be comparable to similar information that is presented elsewhere outside of this report. HZL’s Rampura Agucha, Rajpura Dariba, Sindesar Khurd, Zawar and Kayad mines were considered material properties. Please refer to the Technical Report Summaries filed as exhibits hereto for additional information with respect to our material properties and Material Mining Properties section below.

A ‘Mineral Resource’ is a concentration or occurrence of material of intrinsic economic interest in or on the earth’s crust in such form, quality and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. Mineral Resources are further sub-divided, in order of increasing geological confidence, into inferred, indicated and measured as categories.

Mineral Reserve is the economically mineable part of a Measured Mineral Resource and/or Indicated Mineral Resource. Mineral Reserves are subdivided in order of increasing confidence into Probable Mineral Reserves or Proved Mineral Reserves.

Our Zinc India business is owned and operated by HZL. HZL’s fully integrated zinc operations include five lead-zinc mines, one rock phosphate mine, four hydrometallurgical zinc smelters, two lead smelters, one pyrometallurgical lead-zinc smelter, eight sulphuric acid plants and six captive power plants at our Chanderiya, Dariba and Zawar facilities in the state of Rajasthan and processing facilities for zinc and lead as well as a silver refinery at Pantnagar, located in the State of Uttarakhand in northern India. HZL sources all of its concentrate requirements from its mines. HZL’s operations also includes 39.6 MW solar power projects installed at its Agucha, Debari and Dariba complexes and a 40.67 MW waste heat recovery power plant adjunct to its captive power plants.

We produce and sell primary lead ingots of 99.99% and 99.97% purity, primarily to battery manufacturers and to a small extent to chemical manufacturers.

HZL normally sources all of the lead-zinc ore required for its business from its underground mines at Rampura Agucha, Zawar, Rajpura Dariba, Sindesar Khurd and Kayad in the state of Rajasthan in northwest India. Lead-zinc ore extracted from the mines is conveyed to beneficiation plants that processes the ore into zinc and lead concentrates. With good ore mineralogy providing a high metal recovery ratio, the Rampura Agucha mine including its satellite Kayad mine accounted for 53.6% of HZL’s total mined metal in zinc and lead concentrate produced in fiscal year 2022, with the Zawar, Rajpura Dariba and Sindesar Khurd mines accounting for the remaining 15.8%, 4.7% and 25.9%, respectively. Then zinc and lead concentrates are transported by road to the nearby Chanderiya, Dariba and Debari smelters.

HZL has two types of zinc smelters, namely hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical. Four of HZL’s smelters are hydrometallurgical and one is pyrometallurgical.

HZL has two lead smelters in Chanderiya and Dariba. The smelter in Chanderiya uses Ausmelttechnology and the smelter in Dariba uses Shuikoushan Smelting Technology (“SKS”) oxygen bottom blowing technology. There is also a lead-zinc smelter at Chanderiya which uses the pyrometallurgical imperial smelting furnace process.

The following map shows the locations of HZL’s facilities in the State of Rajasthan:

The Rampura Agucha lead-zinc mine is located near Gulabpura in the North-west State of Rajasthan.

Rajpura Dariba is an underground lead-zinc mine and processing facility located northeast of Udaipur in the Rajsamand district in the state of Rajasthan, northwest India.

The Sindesar Khurd mine is a large-scale underground mine deposit that was explored during 1992 to 1995. Mine production began at the Sindesar Khurd mine in April 2006 and HZL’s mining permit is valid until March 2049. The Sindesar Khurd mine lies on the same geological belt as the Rajpura Dariba mine. The mine is approachable from Rajpura Dariba mines by road.

Zawar consists of four mines namely, Mochia, Balaria, Zawar Mala and Baroi. The deposit is located near Udaipur city, in the state of Rajasthan in northwest India. The deposits lie within a 36.2 square kilometers mining lease granted by the state government of Rajasthan which is valid until March 31, 2030.

As per subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K. R&R Statement released on March 31, 2022, the Proved and Probable Reserves are 37.9 million tons with an average grade of 2.8% zinc, 1.2% lead and 23 ppm silver net of depletion and the Measured and indicated resources are 36.8 million tons with an average garde of 3.4% zinc, 2% lead and 28 ppm silver and Inferred resources with 79.3 million tons with an average garde of 3.6% zinc, 2.1% lead and 34 ppm silver.

The Kayad lead—zinc mine is located in Ajmer, in the state of Rajasthan.

The following table shows our proved and probable zinc, lead and silver as of March 31, 2022 prepared in accordance with Subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K: