By IANS
Udaipur : Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL), India’s leading zinc producer and a part of Vedanta Resources, a London stock exchange listed metals and mining major, has reported better performance last fiscal.
The company’s revenue for the year ended March 31, 2007, more than doubled to Rs.85.60 billion and profit after tax increased threefold to Rs.44.42 billion, according to a company release.
HZL paid an interim dividend of 25 percent and has recommended another 25 percent, the highest so far in the history of HZL.
Vedanta Resources CEO K.K. Kaura, while addressing HZL’s annual general meeting here Friday, said that the main drivers of higher profits were increased production, stable power supply from captive power plants and improved metal recovery.
Kaura said that the company is well on its path to realise its one million tonne mission. Construction for the second 1,70,000 TPA (tonnes per annum) smelter at Chanderiya and mining expansion at Agucha in Rajasthan are in full swing.
“Higher volume from expansion projects would help the company to deliver superior performance in the future,” he added.
During the year 2006-07, the company increased its reserves and resources by 32 million tonnes, an increase of 18 percent over the previous year net of depletion. The total reserve and resources as on March 31, 2007, now stands 209.4 million tonne.
Speaking on prices, Kaura said that globally, the prices of all non-ferrous metals including zinc and lead surged in 2006-07 in response to increase in consumption in developing countries and limited mining capacity not being able to keep pace with the growing demand.
Global zinc consumption at 11.82 million tonnes and lead consumption at 8.4 million tonnes are growing at a healthy rate of around three percent per annum driven by rise in consumption in China and other developing countries.