New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS): Public sector miniratna mining company Manganese Ore (India) Limited (MOIL) has achieved its highest ever quarterly revenue from operations of Rs 492.84 crore and profit before tax of Rs 204.3 crore, the Ministry of Steel announced on Thursday.

Continuing the upbeat performance of 2023-24, the company has achieved record quarterly turnover and sales during the first quarter (April-June) of 2024-25, the official statement said.

The performance was backed by record quarterly production of manganese ore, going up to a level of 4.7 lakh tonnes during the quarter to register a growth of 8 per cent year-on-year while the sales turnover of the company jumped by 15 per cent during the first quarter compared to the same period of the previous year due to better prices.

MOIL, the country's largest manganese ore producer, has also continued its focus on exploration activities and carried out exploratory core drilling of 30,028 metres in April-June quarter, which is higher by 49 per cent year-on-year.

Manganese is mainly used for making alloys, such as steel.

Steel contains about 1 per cent manganese, to increase strength and also improve workability and resistance to wear.

Manganese steel contains about 13 per cent manganese. This is extremely strong and is used for railway tracks, safes and rifle barrels.

MOIL CMD Ajit Kumar Saxena said that it was heartening to see the MOIL team maintaining the momentum of high growth, breaking the myth of first quarter syndrome, surpassing the previous fourth quarter performance in turnover and sales.