MOIL looks to buy assets in S Africa, West Asia

State-run manganese ore producer MOIL is looking to buy manganese ore assets in South Africa, Turkey, Congo and West Asian countries, a senior company official said.

The largest domestic manganese producer, formerly known as Manganese Ore India Limited, is also looking to revive Congo government-owned Kisenge manganese mines in the African country, MOIL Chairman K J Singh told PTI.

"Recently we had floated an expression of interest in this regard and six proposals were received. We have sought some clarifications from them as they are not complete," Singh said, adding that MOIL is looking at reserves of about 100 million tonnes (MT).

He further said the proposals received include outright acquisition of mines, forming of joint ventures and long term supplies but technical and financial viabilities will be done only after getting their replies.

MOIL, which posted about 26% growth in its net profit at Rs 588.06 in 2010-11, has cash reserves of about Rs 2,000 crore and financing the acquisitions will not be a problem, he said.

Singh, however, refused to provide other details.

Talking about the domestic expansion, the MOIL Chairman said that company will be investing about Rs 1,200 crore to increase its total production capacity to 2 MT by 2020.

The expansion includes increasing the Balaghat underground mine in Madhya Pradesh and Dongri Buzurg open cast mine in Maharashtra to 5 lakh tonnes each, Singh said.

In 2010-11, MOIL produced about 1.15 MT of manganese from its seven underground (Kandri, Munsar, Beldongri, Gumgaon, Chikla, Balaghat and Ukwa mines) and three opencast mines (Dongri Buzurg, Sitapatore/Sukli, and Tirodi, that are estimated to have total reserves of 60 million tonnes.

Singh also said the company was recently allocated a reserve across 814 hectares (ha) by Maharasthra government and has applied for a prospecting licence.

"The reserves are in near-by areas of our existing operations in Nagpur and Bhandara districts in Maharashtra. Our focus is on Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh only as they have the best available manganese reserves in the country," he said.

Formerly known as Manganese Ore India Limited, it is biggest producer of manganese ore, primarily used to make ferro-alloys for steel production.

For the year ended March 31, 2011, the company posted a net profit of Rs 588.06 crore, registering a growth of about 26%, while its total income was up 17% at Rs 1,285.46 crore.