State-owned MOIL Limited on Wednesday announced that its board has approved a strategic partnership with Gujarat Mineral Corporation Limited (GMDC) for manganese ore mining in Gujarat. The partnership will form a 51:49 joint venture company between MOIL Ltd and GMDC.

“The Board of MOIL at its meeting held on December 13, 2023 has approved joint venture agreement for formation of 51:49 Joint Venture Company between MOIL Limited and Gujarat Mineral Corporation Limited (GMDC), for manganese ore mining in the State of Gujarat,” it said in a regulatory filing.

Earlier this month, MOIL Limited had posted a 43 per cent rise in manganese ore production at 10.88 lakh tonne (LT) during April-November 2023. It had produced 7.58 LT manganese ore during the year-ago period. Last month, the production was 1.62 LT, registering 35 per cent year-on-year growth over 1.20 LT in November 2022.

The cumulative sale was 9.45 LT, up 52 per cent from 6.23 LT in the first eight months of the previous fiscal, it had said. In November 2023, it reported sales of 1.01 LT as against 0.86 LT in the same month last year. During April-November 2023, the company conducted an exploratory core drilling of 49,389 metres, 2.6 times higher than 18,899 metres in the same period last year.