By IANS
New Delhi : Leading zinc and lead producer Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (HZL) plans to scale up its zinc production capacity to 671,000 tonnes by the end of this fiscal (2007-08) from the current 400,000, the company's chief executive said Monday.
"Our current production capacity for zinc is 400,000 tonnes and by the end of this fiscal we plan to increase it to 671,000 tonnes," M.S. Mehta, CEO of Hindustan Zinc, told reporters here.
Hindustan Zinc is part of Vedanta Resources, a London listed metals and mining major with aluminium, copper and zinc operations in Britain, India and Australia.
Increase in production, Mehta said, would take place due to sudden buoyancy in the domestic as well as international markets, giving rise to an increase in demand for zinc.
"We are planning to export about 200,000 tonnes of zinc this fiscal," Mehta said, adding that HZL had exported 150,000 tonnes in the last financial year.
Mehta also indicated that the new mining policy, as envisioned by the government recently, would open up new avenues of mining and exploration for the company.
Sterlite industries, subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, acquired 46 percent stake in the then state-run HZL in 2002. Thereafter, it acquired an additional 18.9 percent stake in April 2003, making it a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources.
In 2006-07, HZL had a turnover of Rs.85.60 billion and a net profit of Rs.44.2 billion in 2006-07.