Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q3 and nine-month FY25 earnings call of Hindustan Zinc Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero, on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Raksha Jain, Director of Investor Relations of Hindustan Zinc Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Ms. Jain.
Thank you, Operator. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us today to discuss the third quarter and nine-month results of FY25. In this call, we will refer to our investor presentation available on our company website. Please note that today's entire discussion will be covered by the Safe Harbor Clause mentioned on slide two of the presentation. Today, we have our CEO, Mr. Arun Misra, and CFO, Mr. Sandeep Modi. The management will be discussing the operational and financial updates for the quarter, followed by a Q&A session. Now, I would like to invite Mr. Arun Misra to present the results. Over to you, sir.
Thank you, Raksha. A very good afternoon to all of you. Thank you for joining us today for the third quarter and nine-month FY25 results briefing. This quarter has been a historic third quarter in terms of financial performance, and we delivered highest-ever mine metal and refined metal production on a nine-month basis. Globally, zinc production was flat in the last five years. However, the growth of Indian demand was a CAGR of 5%, and so was the production growth of HZL. We feel we are in the right place at the right time with a competitive cost advantage to unleash benefit from stable aluminum and silver prices. This exceptional performance was driven by our operational excellence, with a strong focus on safety and continuous improvement across all areas.
I'm proud to announce that once again, we have been recognized as the global leader in sustainability among 248 metals and mining companies in the S&P Global's Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2024. Furthermore, with the release of our fourth edition Climate Action Report, Hindustan Zinc has been the first company in the metals and mining sector to achieve this distinction. We firmly believe that a strong safety culture is key to driving operational excellence. This quarter, we recorded zero fatalities. On the sustainability front, against the target of 0.5 million tons CO2 emission reduction, we have achieved 0.4 million tons of CO2 emission. With the increased use of renewable energy and eco-friendly battery vehicles in our mines, we are on track to achieve the decarbonizing target by 2050.
Both zinc and silver are important for the global transition to a low-carbon future, be it energy storage solutions, renewable energy technologies, electric vehicles, and infrastructure offering a sustainable alternative to large-scale storage and clean energy production. The global shift towards clean energy is making zinc and silver indispensable, and the demand for both zinc and silver is expected to rise significantly. Moving to the market update, while the Indian economy is expected to register 6.4% GDP growth in FY2025, we see healthy demand for zinc in the domestic market, and our market cap remained healthy at 77%. In 2025, global steel demand is expected to grow by 0.5%-1.5%, whereas India is expected to lead the steel demand growth, underpinned by its expanding infrastructure and construction projects, eventually increasing the demand for zinc and making India the third-largest zinc consumer globally.
During the quarter, the zinc and silver prices rose significantly by 16% and 27% year-on-year, respectively, with the silver price touching its highest of $34.51 per troy ounce during the quarter. The global refined zinc market is forecasted to remain in deficit in 2025, with a significant increase in demand, partly offset by increased production in Europe. This deficit is also expected in the refined silver market, with growing industrial use cases benefiting especially from renewable energy initiatives and automotive, etc., thereby reflecting a bright outlook for silver in the foreseeable future. During the third quarter, we produced 265,000 tons of mine metal, up 3% sequentially in line with higher ore production and higher mine metal grades. We have enhanced the mine development by 14% sequentially to around 25 kilometers, preparing the mine to be future-ready.
We reported refined metal production of 259,000 tons, slightly down sequentially due to maintenance activities. Despite all these, on a nine-month basis, we have recorded our highest-ever mine metal and refined metal production this year. The nine-month mine metal production stood at 784,000 tons, and refined metal production stood at 783,000 tons, in line with better plant availability and operational parameters. With the given record nine-month performance and the proven run rate, we are confident on achieving the full-year volume guidance for the mine metal and refined metal production. As silver remains a significant contributor to our profitability, with over 20 times growth in the past two decades, we continue to maintain a leading position, being the third-largest silver producer globally. As you all know, we have indigenously commissioned Fumer facility to generate wealth from the waste, leveraging a first-of-its-kind technology in India.
Since COVID, we have been facing challenges in getting visas for our Chinese partners, and we were facing some operational challenges as well. Therefore, we took strategic maintenance shutdowns, which have been concluded in January, and the plant operations have been resumed. On the other hand, we are also hopeful on issuance of Chinese visas based on discussions with the government, given the strategic importance of silver in India. Post this, we are hopeful to achieve the silver production of around 32 tons from Fumer on an annual basis. Considering the shutdown of the plant in Quarter 3 and some changes in the mine sequencing in the SK mine, as per geotechnical situations, we will achieve a silver production between 700-710 tons during the current year.
Our zinc COP for the quarter stood at $1,041 per ton, lower by 5% year-on-year, driven by improved metal grades, better domestic coal availability, increased renewable energy usage, higher asset realization, softened coal and input commodity prices, and operational efficiencies. This demonstrates our efforts are on the right path of achieving our target of $1,000 per ton for the cost of production. Through a focused approach to significantly reducing costs alongside operational excellence, we have achieved a strong financial performance, recording the highest-ever third-quarter revenue and EBITDA. Our profit after tax stood at ₹2,678 crore, reflecting an impressive growth of 32% compared to an 18% increase in total revenue driven by cost reduction. In conclusion, we are dedicated to expanding our capabilities with a focus on growing our R&R base to strengthen our global positioning.
Our efforts will remain focused on broadening our portfolio in emerging areas such as mine metal recovery and value-added products, all through sustainable methods to drive greater value for our shareholders. With this, I now hand over to Sandeep for his update on the financial performance.
Thank you, Mr. Misra, and a very good evening, everyone. Despite facing high inflation and global uncertainty, the Indian economy demonstrated remarkable resilience in the year 2024, making it the world's fastest-growing major economy, characterized by strong GDP growth, substantial foreign exchange reserve, and a record level of FDI inflows. With it being on a fast track to become the third-largest economy in terms of real GDP by 2030, the World Bank recently projected that India's growth will remain robust in FY26 and FY27. The base metal sector experienced a volatile 2024, starting the year as a weak-performing asset class. However, in the later half of the year, it rebounded, driven by global demand for the metal used in artificial intelligence and a green energy transition. Gold and silver stood out by reaching record high levels.
Overall, both base metal and precious metal ended the year in positive territory, reflecting optimism about their long-term demand outlook. Considering the demand growth we have witnessed in 2024, reflecting in the commodity prices and economic growth, the year to date has been our best-ever performance in terms of mine metal and refined metal production. With the continued focus on stringent cost control and surge in the commodity prices in double digits, we achieved highest-ever third-quarter revenue and EBITDA, with the 10-quarter best EBITDA margin of around 53%, up 400 basis points over last year. Our market share in India has also increased to 77%.
During the third quarter, our total revenue from operations stood at 10-quarter best figure of ₹8,614 crore, which is also our highest third-quarter revenue, up 18% year-on-year, in line with better zinc and silver prices, further supported by strong dollar and marginally offset by lower lead and silver volume and lead prices. For the year till date, the total revenue from operations stood at ₹24,996 crore, up 17% year-on-year, driven by record metal production, higher zinc and silver prices, and a stronger dollar that was partly offset by lower silver and lead prices. We achieved highest-ever third-quarter EBITDA of ₹4,539 crore, up 28% year-on-year, in line with strong volume, high realization, and lower cost of production.
This quarter, our Hindustan Zinc Alloys Private Limited, a 100% subsidiary of Hindustan Zinc, has also achieved an annualized run rate of generating EBITDA of ₹150 crore, against the overall investment of around ₹200 crore, delivering on track payback of less than two years. For the nine months, the EBITDA stood at ₹12,649 crore, up 26% year-on-year, through record metal production volume, high realization, and lower cost of production, though partly offset by lower silver volume, as already highlighted by Mr. Misra. The zinc excluding royalty stood at the 15-quarter lowest figure of $1,041 per ton during the quarter, with the four-year best cost of production of $1,073 per ton for the nine months. This indicates our progress towards recording a four-year lowest cost for the full year and confident enough on achieving the full-year cost guidance towards its lower band.
Our growth projects, Debari Roaster 160 KTPA and Fertilizer, are going well. We spent INR 1,024 crore in growth, as well as in sustaining CapEx during the quarter. We have delivered healthy free cash flow, Free Cash Flow of INR 2,628 crore in the third quarter and INR 9,664 crore on a nine-month basis. We reported our nine-quarter best profit after tax of INR 2,678 crore, up 32% year-on-year, in line with higher EBITDA. For the nine months, profit after tax stood at INR 7,350 crore, up 28% year-on-year. The effective tax rate for the quarter is 24%. Supporting the government's effort to empower the MSME sector, we have prioritized payments to MSME vendors, achieving an average cycle of 18 days, which is 60% faster than the statutory requirement. This underscores our commitment to ESG principles, extends trust in our supply chain, through enhanced social responsibility.
This year again, we have continued our legacy of ensuring the highest level of corporate governance and transparency in reporting practices. I am proud to share that Hindustan Zinc's integrated annual report for the financial year 2024 was recognized as one of the top integrated annual reports in India and won the Gold Award, with the top 50 ranked worldwide at the LACP Spotlight Awards. Overall, we achieved strong performance for the quarter and the nine months. Our focus on operational excellence and cost reduction is driving improved financial results. Our large-scale, low-cost operations are consistently delivering industry-leading EBITDA margins and generating strong cash flow from operations. With the further increment in the share of renewable power in the overall power requirement, increased production volume, and other recovery investment initiatives, we are confident in achieving the designed cost of $1,000 per ton.
With the solid foundation for continued success, we position ourselves for future growth and maximizing value for all our shareholders. Before I hand over to the operator, I am also happy to share that the company delivered a superior total shareholder return of around 62%, that is ₹181 per share, in comparison to 10X of Nifty 50 and 13X of Nifty Metal Index. Our market share also increased by ₹64,000 crore during this financial year. With this, I now hand over to the operator for Q&A. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone phone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Again, you may press star and one to join the question queue. Our first question comes from the line of Amit Dixit from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Good evening, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity. Congratulations for a good set of numbers this quarter. I have a couple of questions. Is it possible to quantify the hedging gain in this quarter, the residual hedging quantity we have, and if there was any fresh exposure taken in this quarter?
Hi, Amit. Sandeep here. Good evening. So we have an overall hedging gain in the nine months logged in is ₹58 crore flowing to the P&L, and the remaining around ₹64 crore is lying in the other comprehensive income, which will flow into P&L in the Q4. The open quantity is around 14,000 tons of the zinc. The rest all has been squared off.
Okay. No fresh exposure taken in this quarter?
No. No fresh exposure.
Okay. The second question is around the prepared remarks. We mentioned that there was lower production due to maintenance-related shutdown. So is it possible to quantify what kind of, in quantity terms, what would have been the loss?
So if we say 259 KT of metal, perhaps another 5, 6 KT would have been added to it.
Okay. Great. Given the level of energy crisis at the moment, is it fair to assume that we will be running the combo smelter in zinc mode only because zinc prices appear to be quite favorable over lead?
Absolutely, we will be continuing in the lead-plus zinc mode only, and also, in Quarter 4, typically, the mines are at their peak in producing concentrate, and our best mines, best grade mines in Rampura Agucha, primarily being zinc mines, so we will have more of zinc mine metal, and we will be continuing, and the prices are favorable, so we should be continuing in the same mode only.
The geotechnical issues that you alluded to in your prepared remarks are now avoided in SK mine?
Geotechnical issues will come here and there in the mine, but we have got solid mechanism behind it to address along with international experts who work with us. So while they may have a little bit of issues while development, but I don't see a big challenge there.
Okay. Great, sir. Thank you so much, and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. Our next question comes from Ashish Kejriwal from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Good evening, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, quick few questions. First, you mentioned that you are still maintaining the overall mine metal production guidance as well as refined zinc guidance?
Yes, yes. Of course. We are still holding onto it.
Because that means the fourth quarter could be around 350 KT from 265 to 350 KT. Do you think that we will be able to manage that?
Ashish, this is Sandeep here. I think if we do 316 KT of the mine metal, I'm not sure how we are getting 350. If we do 316 KT of the mine metal, we can achieve the guidance. For the metal, we need 290 KT. The roaster is getting commissioned in the middle of February. We are quite confident to achieve both of those.
Okay. That's great. Second question is, in terms of royalty, is it possible to quantify how much royalty we have paid to our parent in nine months and three months, respectively?
It's around INR 650 crore for the full year.
Okay. So we have already paid INR 650 crore for the entire FY25?
Yeah, yeah. It's paid in advance and adjusted before the next payment is done.
And Sir, lastly, last quarter also, we said that we are working on to increase our capacity from 1.2 to something like two million tons. And can you give some kind of details? So any progress on that front?
We have almost finalized mining contractors because once they're done, the mines need to be deepened, new levels to be opened up. Whichever way we design the mine, we have to do that task. We can no regret move. We are finalizing both two Australian contractors and one Peruvian contractor, and that should happen in early February so that they can start mining in the month of April. That will start adding more volume to next year's overproduction. Second is expansion of smelter, current expansion of new roaster, which is getting commissioned in this quarter itself. Also, we are finalizing the order for a 250 KTPA of metal production capability in the smelter site. As the strategy that we are adopting, you won't hear one project of two million ton.
You will hear expansion projects being announced every now and then of some 250, sometimes another 250 KTPA, depending upon where we find it most suitable. And I'm sure first two steps are two mining contractors engaged in mines for deepening the mines and 250 KTPA order placement for expansion of smelter. That will be followed by many such steps.
So sir, is it possible if we can say, for example, next five years' plan, year-wise, like we are 1.2 million ton mine metal right now and refined metal of 1.1, how we are stepping ahead and reach 2 million ton maybe five years, seven years, whenever? But year-wise, obviously, as you rightly pointed out, it can't be one go. But from 1.2, are we going to 1.35, 1.5? So year-wise, if it's possible to share?
You're very correct. So as I said, 250 KTPA, if I commission, 1.2 will go to 1.45 directly, which is close to 1.5. And then maybe we will look at another 0.5, 500 KTPA plant, a 0.5 million ton plant to take the capacity to 2 million ton. That will be in one go. But the first figure is from 1.2 to 1.45 and commensurate mining. Once that establishes, which I can see anywhere between one and up to two and a half years' time, which will take us to FY27, and then we will see to take it from 1.45 to 2 million ton.
One thing is sure, that from 1.2, we are going ahead to 1.45 by FY27 or max FY28?
Absolutely.
Okay. Thanks, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question comes from the line of Manav Gogia from YES Securities (India) Limited. Please go ahead.
Very good evening and thanks for the opportunity. So one question I wanted to ask was on the Hindustan Zinc Alloy Plant. Could you quantify the amount of EBITDA that was generated during this quarter?
The EBITDA generated by Hindustan Zinc Alloys Private Limited is ₹43 crore during the quarter three and profit after tax of ₹31 crore.
Okay. And what would be the annual run rate that we can expect on a full-year basis from this year?
Full-year basis, we can expect at a peak capacity of around ₹200 crore EBITDA. Since it's a new company, the ETR will be 17.44%.
Got it. Thank you so much. So one more question was, can you give me the blend of renewable energy in the total energy mix that we had? I think last quarter, we were somewhere around 14%. We've guided to be between 25% to 30% during this particular quarter. Could you just?
Yeah. During this quarter also, it was around 15% in the overall total power. The renewable energy component was 15%.
Got it. Got it. Sure, sir. I'll join back with you tomorrow. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Manav.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Raashi Chopra from Citigroup. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Just a couple of questions. On the renewable energy, will you still exit the fourth quarter at 25%?
Renewable energy mix, we should be around between 18%-20%.
Okay. And I don't know if I missed this on this call, but the cost of production guidance for the full year, are you still maintaining what you had given earlier?
So we had a guidance of 1,050 to 1,100, and we are maintaining the same guidance. As I said in my talk track, we should be delivering towards the lower band of the guidance.
Okay. Just on the restructuring, I mean, there were press articles which were suggesting that you didn't talk to the government. Have those concluded or they're still ongoing?
No. Restructuring, no. Government was busy on the OFS part, so we did not press for demerger because both were interconnected as I had spoken at the last quarter board meeting. Also, in the meantime, the Critical Minerals Mission was declared. More and more blocks were being announced, so we focused our attention into bidding for new mineral blocks and the Critical Minerals Mission. We were successful in four blocks, out of which one, of course, has been canceled later on by the Government of India. Three are with us. This is another area this also adds to the enterprise value and helps the shares. We use that opportunity. In the meantime, government OFS of 1.5% has been done. If nothing else happens, then again, we'll come back to talking about demerger.
All right, and just one last question from me. On the dividend side, I mean, there has been a bit of a slowdown vis-à-vis what Vedanta has been announcing, so is there any sort of change in dividend policy, or we can expect it to kind of resume?
I think there is no change in the dividend policy. The dividend policy remains 5% of the opening net worth or the 20%, 30% of the profit. I think we have already delivered ₹12,000 crore for this financial year, which is almost equivalent to the profit after tax of the full year. There's no change.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Shreyans Daga from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Hi, thank you for the opportunity and congratulations on the set of numbers. I have one question on the Supreme Court ruling on mining sales last year. So has Hindustan Zinc received any new demands for any kind of sales related to mining? And are you making any provisions for the rest of the year for any such demands?
So Shreyansh, I think we have been very, very ultra-conservative, and we provided ₹83 crore as a provision in the last quarter, and there has not been any demand on account of it. We will actually see whether to reverse in the subsequent quarters.
Okay. That's it for me. Thanks.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your touchtone phone. The next question comes from the line of Shivani from Dolat Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity. So my question was regarding the silver production FY25 guidance was 750-775 tons, but nine-month volume shows that the guidance might not be achieved. So any impeding reason for the same and future to expect regarding the status of additional silver volumes from the Fumer?
Although every year we do give a guidance, silver guidance, when we give the guidance for copper, CapEx, and the metal volume, but all of us have to appreciate that silver is just a byproduct, and it is a reflection of the grade and what we are mining as on date. So while since it's a byproduct, we would rather say our focus would be on meeting the guidance on metal and meeting the guidance on cost of production, meeting the guidance of CapEx. However, silver being a byproduct, we should try to reach to whatever level closer as is physically possible under the current circumstances, which Sandeep has already narrated, anywhere between 710 tons or more we should be able to do. May not be meeting the guidance, but it's not much of a concern because our primary focus is meeting the guidance on metals.
Okay. Very good. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Aniruddh from JM Financial. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Am I audible?
Yes, yes. Absolutely.
Sir, first of all, congratulations on a good set of numbers. I just wanted to have a question regarding the factors which will be driving the cost from $1,041 to $1,000. Can you please give a color on what will be the factors?
Yeah. I think the $1,041 to $1,000. I think from going here, we had the highest cost of around $1,297, and in the last 15 quarters, we have gone significantly down every quarter, and now we're around $1,041. As I said, we should be around $1,050 on a year basis. From here, the journey, the main component will be the renewable energy. As I have been explaining in the earlier part, that we are far from the mine, so we have very significant logistic costs, and renewable energy does not come with any cost of the logistics. So every 2% increase in the renewable energy will save $1. And as we have signed the two power delivery agreements with Serentica, and the third power delivery agreement is going to be signed, so we will be almost 70% secured from the renewable power through the renewable energy.
From 15%-70%, that is around a 55% increase. We will have a $30 cost reduction in the next two years. It will happen in the phases. That is the key 80% component for my cost reduction. The second key component would be the volume increase. More and more volume increase will have a more fixed cost absorption, given that I have a 30%-35% fixed cost. Over FY26 and FY27, we should see the cost. I believe and hopeful to see FY26 exit cost around $1,000, and FY27 should be below $1,000.
Okay. Thank you. That answers my question.
Thank you.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. A reminder to all the participants, if you wish to register for a question, you may press star and one on your touch-tone phone. The next question comes from Ashish Kejriwal from Nuvama Wealth Management. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, I missed that time. What could be the probable CapEx for this expansion, this 250,000 tons smelter, as well as mine expansion, which we are planning to do?
We are planning, as Mr. Misra said, for 1.2-2 million tons. It will be in the phases, but overall CapEx, as a very, very highly indicative basis, our past CapEx performance and the global benchmark should be between $2-$2.5 billion, spreading between 3-5 years.
But the $2-$2.5 billion is for 1.2-2 million tons. So we have visibility only for 1.2-1.45 right now. So have we gone ahead with ordering, or still it's in the growth stage?
No, no. Ashish, I think we have, as of now, we have appointed three global mining consultants, and one for the smelter and three for the mining. So mining is more like doing a mine development. Smelter is very easy to set up. Smelter, our global benchmark is around $3,000 of the cost for the project cost. In case of Europe, it is around $4,500 per ton. Our case, it has been always $2,300-$2,400 per ton. So we should be remaining in the same range. So 250 KT multiplied by the $2,500 should be around a $500 million kind of numbers to put in a perspective, sorry, $500 million of the numbers for putting the smelter. And similarly, if I take the mining expansion, if I have to match that 250 KT, it should be around $700-$800 million.
All of 250 KT for mining and smelter should be around, I think, $1-$1.2 billion.
That's very clear, sir. And we are planning to start it from next year maybe.
Yeah, yeah. We should be planning for next year also. Next year, and we are also working on the 10 million ton of the recycling project as well, tailings recycling.
Okay. Can you please explain, sir, give some more details on that 10 million ton recycling?
No, so we will be putting up a 10 million ton recycling plant, which will be annually processing 10 million tons of tailings. We have got huge quantity of tailings in Rampura Agucha mine, and we'll be taking the tailings out from the tailings dam, reprocessing it, and produce zinc out of it. So roughly, it has a grade of anywhere between 2%-2.5%. And since there is no cost attached to the input side, so the only thing we need to do is process it, which can be a function of the current technology we are exploring is a function of combination of flotation and then leaching with sulfuric acid and produce directly zinc sulfate out of it, and then transport zinc sulfate to smelter and produce zinc. So this is something that will make our process more sustainable.
It's a reuse and recycle principle, and also produce additional zinc from the tailings that we have. We don't have to mine it.
Sir, is it possible to share now how much tailings we have and when we are going to plan or start this recycling plant? When will it start hitting our P&L?
So maybe we'll have to wait for one more such call, maybe after another board meeting, when we'll come back with further details. But as of now, we are working aggressively with the designers. We are sending samples to Australia for testing so that the technology can be frozen. Once I guess another one, one and a half months, that will be done. And once that is done, then we can come back and share with you how much will be the yield of it, how much will be the CapEx of it. And I am sure this will be a very high-payback project which will happen. And also, it will be one of a kind in the world. No other zinc mining and smelting company has ever thought of making such a large-scale plant for tailings reprocessing.
Yeah. And this will be under Hindustan Zinc only?
Of course. This will be under Hindustan Zinc if the demerger doesn't happen before that.
Yeah. Okay, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from Jainam Shah from Indsec Securities and Finance Limited. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. Thank you so much for this opportunity and congratulations on good set of results. My only question is that what is the revenue potential from the DAP plant that is going to be expected to be commissioned in FY26?
So Jainam, thanks for the question. The fertilizer plant will get commissioned by Q4 26. So we are not expecting any revenue from the DAP plant in FY26. On a full-scale basis for this 5.1 lakh tonnes of the fertilizer plant, we are having the EBITDA potential of ₹400-450 crore annually.
Yeah. So you have been mentioning EBITDA across the different calls that have been there, but revenue potential is not shared. So any specific reason for that, or it's still in the books? So what will be the revenue potential? I just wanted to know that.
Revenue potential will be, I think we are talking about because we are having a 12%-13% margin. So in this kind of the project, revenue will be around ₹2,000-2,500 crore. That's the revenue. So I think very simple math, sir. Nothing to hide about it.
Okay. Okay. Very well. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. Thank you for the question.
Thank you. The next question comes from Shweta Dixit from Systematix. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening, everyone. A couple of questions from my side. Is there an annual CapEx guidance for the next two years?
Shwetha, I don't think we will give the annual CapEx guidance during the start of the year. And as Mr. Misra said about the 1-2 million tons, and I explained one of the other analysts also, we will be having a if we launch this 2 million-ton project, it will be between 3-5 years, $2-2.5 billion. It will depend upon the board of. As of now, we are sticking for this year's annual guidance around $200 million on the growth CapEx and maintenance CapEx around $375 million. For the next year's guidance, we are still in the process of business planning, and once the board approves this CapEx, then we can announce it formally.
So I mean, for a model perspective, we can at least for now take this as a steady-state basis for the next two years. That will be the minimum CapEx for the two years?
Yes. Yes, sir. You can take that for your model purpose.
Another question only on the recycling plant. That's a 10 million ton processing capacity per annum, right, as you mentioned?
Yeah.
The recovery of around 2%-2.5%?
Yeah. It should be having the content of 2% of the metal.
This is likely to be only zinc, or are you looking at any other metal or minerals here?
We are focusing more into the zinc and silver.
Zinc and silver. Okay. And since you said this is something which does not entail any input costs, those things that these are basically tailings that you're utilizing. So could you give an indication of what kind of visibility do you have of processing 10 million tons every year? What's your input?
So you have to wait for those numbers. As of now, we are undergoing sending samples for testing and finalizing the technology. Capacity, roughly, we assume that we should be having a 10 million ton processing plant. We have enough of tailings in stock for that. And also, every year, since we'll be increasing the volume to 2 million ton metal, so to that account, production of tailings will also go up many folds from the current level. So supply side is not an issue. The issue is only finalizing technology so that we can attribute the right cost numbers, and we can calculate the right return on investment. So that, I think, we'll have to wait for another one quarter to know that.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to all the participants, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your touchtone phone. The next follow-up question comes from Manav Gogia from YES Securities. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Sir, one question I wanted to ask was basically on the Fumer getting ramped up. Last quarter, I believe you had mentioned that there were some design inefficiencies that had taken place. So I just wanted to know how are we placed on the Fumer ramping up?
So right now, we have taken a shutdown, and that shutdown is over. Both the furnaces are up and running from today. And also, we have design inefficiencies regarding the coal mill, so that we have brought in new equipment, and we have put in place during the shutdown. So we have done whatever, in our knowledge, what we could do. At the same time, we are also trying for Chinese experts to get visas so that we don't have such problems that we encountered for the last couple of years in the coming days. And I'm sure from this quarter onwards, the Fumer will be delivering what it was designed for.
Okay, and has the Fumer produced any of the volumes till now?
Yeah, yeah. It has produced 5 tons of the equivalent of the silver in the last 6-7 months. So it is not like that it's not producing. It is producing at the rate of, of course, 30% of the design capacity. But we are hopeful that in the Q4, it should be almost 60%-70% of the design capacity.
Okay. That covers it from my end. Thank you so much, and all the very best.
Thanks.
Thank you. Participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. As there are no further questions from the participants, I now hand the conference over to Ms. Jain for closing comments.
Thank you, Operator. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today on this call. If there are any follow-up questions or if there are any clarifications required, you can reach out to the Investor Relations team. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Hindustan Zinc, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.