HZL posted a net profit of ₹2,678 crore for the October-December 2024 quarter, exceeding the CNBC-TV18 poll estimate of ₹2,479 crore.
The company, which has a current market capitalisation of ₹1,85,259.11 crore, has seen its shares gain more than 40% over the last year.
These are the edited excerpts of the interview.
Q: You mentioned that zinc will be approximately $3,000 per tonne in early 2025 so bang on. What is the outlook about zinc, as well as silver prices, which have gone through a bit of consolidation?
A: I still think the fundamentals are strong. Zinc prices will remain between $2850 per tonne and $2950 per tonne in the January-March 2025 quarter.
I see the silver prices remaining range bound between $30 per ounce and $31 per ounce. And these two factors should see us register good numbers.
Q: Are there any signs of a slowdown concerning demand? And what can you guide in terms of zinc volume growth? When do you think silver volume growth will pick up?
A: We are at 511 tonne of silver volumes, so even if we repeat the same performance of the October-December 2024 quarter, we are at 670 tonne plus. Normally, quarter four is the best ever. So I don’t see any reason why we should not be touching 700 tonne, which can also make us quite good considering the circumstances that in the mines, in the sections where we are working, our grade has not been that good.
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But at the same time, we will continue our growth in zinc. Our new roaster is coming into place. A lot of debottlenecking has been done. So yes, we hope to register a 3% growth in zinc numbers on a nine-month basis. It may increase a little bit over 3%. And at the same time, on the silver side, we will try to make up and try to go as close to 700 tonne or cross 700 tonne if possible.
Q: The bright spot was your cost of production. That has come down to a 15-quarter low. Could you tell us what is the outlook from here on?
A: It will only be southwards because our renewable power is the biggest driver to reduce our cost of power. Our renewable power mix has steadily been increasing – The january-March 2025 quarter also will see an exit of more than 13-15% of renewable power, which would help us to lower the cost of power, and hence the cost of smelting, and overall cost of finished goods.
At the same time, since the volumes are typically best in quarter four, no more shutdowns – we will also show additional cost reduction in the January-March 2025 quarter. So this southwards journey of cost will continue and in the direction of $1,000 per tonne, as we promised. We have launched a further expansion of the mines to achieve $1,000 per tonne of cost.
For the full interview, watch the accompanying video
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