New Delhi: Vedanta Group firm Hindustan Zinc on Monday announced a 3.7 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 2,211 crore for December quarter.The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,298 crore in year-ago period.Total income declined marginally by 1.8 per cent to Rs 6,090 crore, from Rs 6,203 crore in corresponding quarter of previous fiscal."The all-round performance of our underground mines has been gratifying.
As our ongoing projects are approaching completion, we are set to reach design capacity of 1.2 million tonnes per annum in coming quarters.
I am also delighted by substantial increase in silver production which we expect to continue next year as well," Chairman Agnivesh Agarwal said.Total mined metal output in third quarter of ongoing fiscal was up 6 per cent sequentially and 3 per cent y-o-y (year-on-year) at 2,47,000 tonnes, driven by strong increase in underground ore production and improvement in ore grades.Integrated metal production was 2,42,000 tonnes in Q3, up 14 per cent sequentially, with both zinc and lead production posting strong gains driven by higher mined metal availability.The metal production was down 1 per cent from year-ago period.The integrated zinc output was 1,88,000 tonnes, up 16 per cent sequentially, on account of higher mine output and improved mined metal availability.About outlook, company said that with ongoing ramp-up of underground mines, mined metal production in FY19 is likely to be slightly higher than last year in line with annual guidance provided earlier.Refined zinc-lead production will be in sync with mined metal production and slightly short of last year's production."The guidance of FY19 silver production will be in range of 650-700 mt is reiterated The project capex for year will be around USD 350 million," it said.The announced mining projects, it said, progressed in line with expectation of reaching 1.2 million tonnes per annum of mined metal capacity in FY20.Hindustan Zinc is a leading integrated producer of zinc-lead with a capacity of one million tonne per annum and a leading producer of silver.