The company produced a record 172 million tonnes of refined silver, up 23% year-on-year. It cited higher lead output, improved higher Sindesar Khurd mine production and better silver grades.

This brought the total for the first six months of the financial year to 310Mt, a 22% jump and led the company to reiterate the full-year silver guidance of 650-700Mt.

Total mined metal production for the July-September period was at an all-time high of 232,000 tonnes, up 6% on the year, of which all was mined underground, a 44% increase.

Hindustan closed its openpit operations prior to the start of the current financial year, which caused the half-year mined metal output to fall 2% on the year to 444,000t. As an underground volume, the 444,000t was up 27% from a year ago.

Quarterly refined lead output climbed 30% year-on-year to 49,000t, with the half-year total up 25% on the year to 91,000t.

It said the pyro metallurgical smelter had been retrofitted to produce more lead and the higher availability of lead mined resulted in improved lead production.

Hindustan said it expected mined metal and refined zinc-lead production in the second half of the 2019 financial year to be significantly higher than the first, due to the continued ramp-up of underground mines.

Despite the good production performance, financials were not as rosy, with net profit for the September quarter falling 30% on the year to Rs1,815 crore, and down 17% for the half-year to Rs3,733 Crore.

It said the decline is in line with EBITDA and higher depreciation, partly offset by lower tax rate.

Revenue for the quarter down 10% to Rs4,777 crore on lower metal prices and lower zinc volumes, offset by higher lead and silver volumes and rupee depreciation. For the six-month period, revenues were up 2%.

EBITDA for the quarter was Rs2,315 crore, a 24% drop year-on-year, while for the April-September period, it was down 7% to Rs5,100 crore.