Hope to clear 1.6 MT of iron ore production: Sandur Manganese

Sandur Manganese and Iron Ores will make a marginal net profit in FY17, says its Chairman and Managing Director SY Ghorpade. This would be a turnaround from the loss of Rs 14.2 crore it reported in the last fiscal.The company will have a turnover of around Rs 200-300 crore in FY17, says Ghorpade. He did not give a strict guidance due to instability in iron ore and manganese prices. The company was plagued with the same issue last fiscal when its turnover for manganese was Rs 17 crore and Rs 47 crore for iron ore. "The full year, that is what I was saying. We are budgeting nearly 1.6 million tonnes. We are awaiting Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) clearance which will come shortly in September, but permission has been given to enhance production. So, we expect to clear about 1.6 million tonnes of production of iron ore."The company's iron ore mining capacity was restricted to 0.74 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) till April 2016. But the company has received permission to enhance production to 1.6 mtpa. Manganese production is also going to rise to 0.25 million tonnes from 0.18 million tonnes.Below is the transcript of SY Ghorpade’s interview to Reema Tendulkar and Prashant Nair on CNBC-TV18.Reema: If you could start off by telling us what was the volume growth in iron ore as well as in manganese and the realisations in these two segments?A: We have been mining iron ore and we have recently got permission to enhance our production to nearly 1.6 million tonnes a year and manganese also an enhance production permission will be obtained shortly for another 0.25 million tonnes a year. Prashant: What has been the iron ore volume in the quarter?A: Iron ore volume was about 335 kilotonnes and about 52,000 tonnes of manganese ore that was the volume last quarter.Prashant: How much do you do typically in a year?A: The full year, that is what I was saying. We are budgeting nearly 1.6 million tonnes. We are awaiting Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) clearance which will come shortly in September, but permission has been given to enhance production. So, we expect to clear about 1.6 million tonnes of production of iron ore.Prashant: This would compare to what in 2016 last year?A: Last year, it was 0.74 million for iron ore and .18 million for manganese ore. That was the limit prescribed.Reema: How soon will you get permission to enhance your manganese production?A: We expect by first week of September. Already IBM is at it and they will only have to clear our mining plans. Otherwise the permission has been given by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to enhance our production.Prashant: What have realisations been for both iron ore and manganese and could you give us comparables as well?A: For the last quarter, we have touched turnover of about Rs 17 crore for manganese ore and about Rs 47 crore for iron ore, mainly because the prices have not been very stable and they are on the falling side.Prashant: Could you give us a full-year estimate as well, I mean 2017?A: For 2016-2017, I do not know whether we have those figures here, but the turnovers will be in the range of Rs 200-300 crore.Reema: That is a very wide range. In FY16 you did Rs 222 crore. Could you at least give us a narrower range for FY17 revenue growth considering your capacity would be increased?A: It all depends upon the price. We assume a certain price and that is all we can predict. But, let me say, iron ore will be nearing about Rs 1,600 crore in FY17 and manganese will be about Rs 35-38 crore.Prashant: That is the turnover right? A: Yes.Prashant: would you make a profit for the year?A: Profit, we will be making a small margin of profit. It will be less than 10 percent.