MOIL shares rose nearly 2% intraday on May 2 after recording healthy growth in manganese ore production and sales in April.

“April manganese ore production of 131,000 tonnes was our best April production performance since inception and represented a substantial increase of 26% compared to April 2022,” Miniratna Class I said in a filing to the exchange.

MOIL further said April sales of 97,838 tonnes were also the best since April, up 72% from a year earlier.

On the exploration front, the state-owned manganese ore producer said it had completed 7,530 meters of core drilling in the past month, 3.6 times more than in the same month last year.

Production of electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) rose 6% year-on-year in April. EMD is a 100% import replacement product, mainly used in pharmaceuticals and battery manufacturing.

The stock was quoted at Rs 159.6 on the NSE, up 1.85% by 1:29 pm.