MOIL net profit marginally up by 2.8%

State-owned Manganese Ore India (MOIL) today reported net profit of Rs 124 crore for the quarter ending December 31, 2010, registering a marginal increase of 2.8%.

The company clocked a net profit of Rs 121 crore over the October-December period last fiscal, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The income from operations for the company for the quarter was Rs 253 crore as against Rs 248 crore over a year-ago period, the statement added.

Besides, MOIL, which mopped up over Rs 1,000 crore through its initial public offer, has already announced that it is looking at acquisitions in South Africa, Turkey and Congo to meet ore demand.

The demand for manganese ore is estimated to touch 4.5 million tonnes in 2012 from the present 2.4 million tonnes if the target for enhancing steel production capacity to 120 million tonnes is met.

The company is exploring opportunities in South Africa with NMDC, which is India's largest iron ore producer.

Besides manganese, MOIL is also eying nickel and chromite properties abroad.

Manganese ore is a key ingredient for producing steel and about 30 kg of ore is required to produce a tonne of steel.

The country's steel output is likely to increase to 120 Million tonnes by 2012 from about 70 million tonnes at present, resulting in the need for about 4.5 million tonnes of manganese ore.

MOIL at present meets 50% of the domestic requirement of the ore and plans to ramp up production within the country to 1.5 million tonnes from the existing 1.1 million tonnes by 2015 through an investment of Rs 768 crore.

The company is also in the process of expanding its domestic ore reserves and plans to carry out about 50,000 metres of exploratory activities in 814 hectares of land.

The land is adjacent to its existing reserves in Bhandara and Nagpur, which has been reserved for it by the Maharashtra government.