Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited is a 100 percent Export Oriented
unit in the Mineral Pro-cessing sector with manufacturing, marketing and research
capabilities. The Companys products and their applications are:
a) Main Product
The main product is Synthetic Rutile which finds application as raw
material for the Ti-tanium pigment and titanium sponge/metal industry. The annual licensed
and installed capacity is 50000 MT.
b) By-Products
The following are the by-products.
i) Ferric Chloride is used as an effective coagulant for purification
of drinking water and for effluent treatment. It is also used as an etching agent and in
pickling plants.
ii) Ferrous Chloride is coagulant for water purification and for
effluent treatment.
iii) Iron Hydroxide (Cemox) used for brick / tile making and as
substitute for iron ore. pigment.
iv) Recovered TiO2 as a cost effective substitute for
producing TiO2
v) Recovered Upgraded Ilmenite. vi) CMRL Rutoweld is used in Welding
Electrode industry.
Raw Materials
The main raw materials of your company are Ilmenite and Hydrochloric
Acid. The ration-ale of setting up of this project was the indigenous availability of both
these items. Now, while Hydrochloric Acid is indigenously available, the availability of
Ilmenite from domestic source has shown a declining trend. In the last few years including
the year under review, the company was facing a major challenge in its procurement from
domestic source. The supply from the domestic market was quite restricted. Your company
has made all efforts to procure the material from various foreign sources, and maintained
the quality of product through process adaptation. The Company had initiated action for
carrying out mining and mineral separation as early as in the year 1991. The Company had
also promoted Kerala
Rare Earths and Minerals Limited (KREML) during the year 2001 and
applied for mining lease in the light of the change in policy by the Government of India
and the Government of Kerala. Various Mining Lease applications of the company were
approved by Govt. of India and four Mining Leases (ML) were granted by the State
Government. However, after granting mining lease, due to policy change, the State Govt.
ordered stopping of further action on the leases granted. The Govt. also rejected the
other ML applications of the company which were already approved by Central Govt. The
company challenged this decision of State Govt to reject ML applications before the
Appellate Authority of Govt. of India. The Appel-late Authority directed the State Govt.
for issue of ML, which was also rejected by State Govt. aggrieved by the decision of State
Govt., the company filed writ petition in the Single Bench of Hon. High Court of Kerala.
The Hon. High Court quashed State Govt. order and directed State Govt. to reconsider the
ML applications. Thereafter, an appeal filed by State Govt. was dismissed by the Division
Bench of Kerala High Court. The State Govt. filed SLP and thereafter Civil Appeal before
the Hon. Supreme Court. The Hon. Supreme Court is-sued a final judgment on 8th April 2016
dismissing all appeals filed by Govt. of Kerala.
KREML has since taken up the matter with the State Govt. to implement
the orders of the Hon. Supreme Court. In the Industrial Policy Statement 2018, the Govt.
declared that the Hon. Supreme Court order will be implemented. In the mean while, the
Govt. of India vide order dated 1.3.2019 directed premature termination of all mineral
concessions of beach sand minerals held by private companies all over India under
provisions of Section 4A (1) of MMDR Act and also stipulated that henceforth, any mineral
concession of beach sand mineral shall be granted only to a Govt. company or corporation
owned or controlled by the Government.
In view of the above, all the companies in private sector in India are
not in a position to carry forward with the project implementation. We are exploring all
other possibilities in this regard.
Operational Performance
The operational performance highlights for the year 2022-23 are given
below:
|
2022-23 |
2021-22 |
| Gross Revenue ( Rs. lacs ) |
44778.45 |
29019.74 |
| Net Profit before tax ( Rs. lacs ) |
7336.82 |
755.08 |
The companys gross income for the financial year ended 31st March
2023 increased to Rs.44,778.45 lakhs as compared to Rs.29019.74 lakhs in the previous
financial year there-by registering an increase of 54.30%.The profit before tax increased
to Rs.73,36.82lakhs during the year as against Rs.7,55.08 lakhs in the previous financial
year.
Outlook
The higher price realization of the main product Synthetic Rutile
during the current year helped the Company to make improvement in turnover from Rs. 289.76
crores to 443.91 crores during the last financial year. The scenario in respect of supply
of main raw material, Ilmenite, from domestic sources remains uncertain. Hence Ilmenite
will have to be imported with implication in respect of quality and price. In any case,
company is making all efforts to maintain maximum level of production. Your Directors are
concerned about the shortage in availability of Ilmenite and are making all efforts for
sourcing of Ilmenite from domestic / international source and marketing of the product.
The company is taking steps to increase the production and marketing of Ferric Chloride
and the other by-products viz. Recovered and Recovered Upgraded Ilmenite.
Risks, Concerns and Strength
The risk factors, as far as your company is concerned, are the
unpredictable situation in the availability and price of ilmenite and Hydrochloric Acid,
the major and critical raw materials of your company.
The market scenario for Synthetic Rutile remains uncertain. The
economic instability of
China and effect of recession in Europe drastically affected the demand
for pigment and somewhat in Titanium Metal industries wherein Synthetic Rutile used is
highly competitive.
The major strength of your company is that its products are of highest
International Stand-ards and are well accepted by reputed buyers. Your company has been
granted ISO 9001:2015 by the prestigious agency Bureau Veritas, with accreditation from
UKAS Lon-don and NABCB India. Your company has been also awarded ISO 45001 : 2018 by the
prestigious agency Bureau Veritas, with accreditation from UKAS London and NABCB India.
The Company also got certification from N S F International, an organization desig-nated
as a Collaborating Center by the World Health Organization (WHO) for our products
Ferric Chloride and Ferrous Chloride with hydrated Titania catalyst and
these products conform to NSF/ ANSI standard 60 for drinking water treatment.
Skilled and dedicated work force is another strength of our Company.
Health, Safety and Environment
The company gives high priority to issues concerning health, safety and
environment. Health - The Company aims to provide comprehensive health services
covering protective, preventive and curative health care to all the employees. Apart from
being covered by Employee State Insurance scheme (ESI), the employees are also entitled to
medical reimbursements under the employees medical beneficiary scheme of the
company.
Safety - The Company gives utmost importance for safety of
employees. Safety of persons overrides all other considerations. This vision drives the
company continuously to look for ways to break new barriers in safety management for the
benefit of all. There has not been major accident since its inception. Safety awareness
programmes are regularly conducted for the employees.
Environment - The Company aims to maintain a clean and pollution
free environment.
Environment impact assessment and qualitative risk analysis are
conducted for all new/ major expansion or diversification projects and all necessary
safeguard measures are in-corporated as part of the project. The effluent treatment
plants, air emission abatement units, waste treatment/disposal facilities etc are
maintained as per statutory standards. The company complies with all pollution control and
environment protection regulations.
The company also undertakes various environment protection programmes
such as tree planting, water conservation measures, water purification and energy saving
initiatives etc.
The Company had also bagged excellence award for 13 years from the
Government of
Kerala for implementing Pollution Control measures. The companys
by-product Ferric Chloride is now widely and successfully used in water purification and
effluent treatment.
Another by-product cemox helps in reducing the ecological problems by
helping to reduce clay mining and as a supplement to Iron Ore supply.
Internal Control Systems and adequacy
Your company maintains formal internal control systems and procedures
which are contin-uously and strictly enforced. These have been designed to provide
reasonable assurance with regard to providing reliable financial information, compliance
with applicable statutes, safeguarding assets and ensuring adherence to Companys
corporate policies. These sys-tems and procedures, which are routinely tested and
certified by your companys statutory and internal auditors and reviewed by the audit
committee, are found to be adequate and effective.
Human Resources
Your company values its human resources as the greatest asset and
maintains harmoni-ous industrial relations. The company provides adequate training to all
the employees and undertakes various employee welfare measures.
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