Dear Stakeholders,
Metals and minerals are essential elements for industrial and economic development. Their demand is directly proportional to and even responsible for, increase in per capita income of a nation. As a sector, it creates jobs, develops hinterlands, gives birth to ancillaries, keeps the import bill down and ups the tax collections.
As chairman of one of the largest zinc-lead mining companies operating today with more than 50 years of experience, I have a clear perspective on the role our business plays in society and the values we must uphold in order to protect and enhance that society and our planet.
While mining has a positive impact on the economy of a nation, it can have a negative impact on the environment if not conducted in an organised, scientific and a well-governed manner. For mining to be conducted in a responsible way and to have an enduring positive legacy for the countries and communities where we operate, we must continue to put sustainability at the core of our thinking and decision-making. At HZL, we are constantly aiming for new benchmarks
in sustainable mining.
Towards this goal, we embrace new technology, adopt comprehensive environment protection measures, and sensitise our personnel on existing and emerging sustainability issues And this is well captured in this report with the theme 'TechTattva' which is all about finding new ways to make mining safer, more efficient, more sustainable, more harmonised with the needs of host communities, and with a smaller environmental footprint.
Our efforts are aligned to the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Our Sustainability Strategy sets out a number of aspiring targets that will drive us to take the initiatives around the conservation of natural environment, the long-term prosperity of our local communities, and to drive greater trust and transparency amongst our stakeholders.
I am delighted to see the progression we are making on a number of fronts. The year 2018 was a landmark year marked by record operational and financial performance.
Thanks to our relentless pursuit of efficiency and productivity, we not only continued to maintain our position as one of the lowest cost producers globally, but the Company also delivered its highest ever ore, mined metal, refined zinc-lead and silver production. In addition, the buoyancy in zinc market enabled an all-time high EBITDA and Net Profit for the year. Our revenue from operations (net of excise duty) rose to INR 22,084 crore compared with INR 17,273 crore last year, a growth of around 28%.
As a responsible mining company, we see growth as a vital tool that enables us to make a difference in the lives of our shareholders, employees and communities, plus provides us more resources to invest in preservation and rejuvenation of the environment. The Board declared a dividend of 400% amounting to INR 4,068 crore including dividend distribution tax during the year. The EPS for the year was INR 21.95 per share as compared to INR 19.68 per share in FY 2017.
During the year, we contributed INR 9,301 crore, which is 42% of our revenues, towards nation building by way of payment to the Government treasury through royalties, taxes and dividends.
The credit of our growth lies squarely on our employees and it is our constant effort to provide them an enabling and conducing platform to perform to their peak potential.
Our prime concern when it comes to our people is their health and safety. We are focusing on digitisation to keep our people out of harm's way, especially in underground mines. With a number of initiatives, we are developing automated and continuous mining procedures designed to create far greater rock stability and less variance in the quality of the ore we extract, with people well separated from areas of high risk. To accelerate the achievement of our objective of a Zero Harm culture, we conducted 0.6 million man-hours of safety training during the reporting period. We also ensured a 100% periodic medical examinations of all applicable employees. Our LTIFR reduced from 0.30 in FY 2016-17 to 0.27 in FY 2017-18 and has registered a 69% decline over the last five years. But, despite our best efforts, I am deeply saddened to report that we had two fatalities at our project sites, which is unacceptable and we have implemented consequence management as per our practices. We are now even more determined to eliminate fatalities across our entire operations and all project sites.
We are committed to create a dynamic and thriving workplace where capabilities are valued, leaders are developed from within, performance is rewarded, and diversity is celebrated. About 27% of enabling roles in our Company are performed by women, who are part of 12% of our women employee base and we intend to improve it further. Our efforts have won us many accolades including being voted as a 'Great Place to Work' by Great Place to Work Institute for building high-trust and high-performance culture within the organisation.
Accolades also poured in for our environmental performance.
Hindustan Zinc was ranked 3rd globally on the environment dimension & 11th sustainable company globally in Dow Jones Sustainability Index in Mining and Metal industry, and we were the only Indian mining company to be included in the RobecoSAM Sustainability Yearbook 2018.
These recognitions have only strengthened our resolve towards the environment. During the year, we invested INR 59 crore on environment related initiatives with an aim to continue reducing our water and greenhouse gas footprint.
We also think carefully about the causes and effects of climate change. We plan to increase our renewable energy portfolio, which today stands at 324 MW and provides reduction of over 730,000 MT of CO2 per annum. I am delighted to inform that we have become signatory to Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) and committed to reduce absolute Scopes 1 and 2 GHG emissions 14% by 2026 from a 2016 base year and also committed to reduce absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions 20% by 2026 from a 2016 base year.
To communicate our sustainability efforts and performance to stakeholders in a transparent and comprehensive manner, we are participating in the water and carbon disclosure programmes of CDP every year. Conversion of waste to useful value-added products is a priority focus area for HZL, as it would create wealth from waste and reduce land requirement for storage.
Leveraging our normal business activities is the most effective way to deliver positive developmental outcomes for our host communities.
During the year, we almost doubled our CSR spending to INR 92 crore, touched more
than 500,000 lives and had a positive impact on more than 100,000 households.
Our key focus is education and our initiatives include creating new age Anganwadis - 'Nandghars', running schools, supporting differently-abled children, providing coaching to high school students, and financially supporting meritorious and needy students for higher education. For holistic development of the country's youth, we are supplementing academics with sports. We have set up 58 community football academies, including four exclusively for girls.
I believe that the mining industry, with its important role in society at large, has a bright future, but only if all mining companies are committed to investing effort and resources into a sustainable future. My vision is for HZL to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in our operation so that we strengthen our sustainability performance - by operating ever more sustainably. A balanced triple bottom-line approach is the secret of our consistent growth and at Hindustan Zinc, we will continue to set higher sustainability standards, contributing to a better future for Rajasthan and India.
Warm regards,
Agnivesh Agarwal
Chairman
