He said the financial closure of the 250 mw lignite-based power plant, adjacent to its Panandhro and Akrimota lignite mines, was expected to be met by November. The plant will be commissioned around September 2001. Global tenders have been invited for the supply of the main plant and machinery and offers were at present under scrutiny. The foundation stone will be laid in a month's time.

Referring to the 7.50 lakh tonnes alumina and 1 million tonne metallurgical coke project also to be set up in Kutch district, he said, "We are holding negotiations with American firms for exploiting vast deposits of bauxite."

He said the company's oldest project, miningfluorspar at Kadipani in Baroda district, which was suspended following a court stay, would be revived soon along with upgradation of the plant and so also the calcite plant at Gadhshila in Kutch district. He said that there would be no retrenchment of the staff in some of the GMDC's dormant projects as they would be absorbed in the ongoing projects.

It is for the first time the board of directors faced the shareholders for the first time at AGM after the Rs 239-crore blue-chip company, wholly owned by Gujarat government, offloaded 26 per cent of the shares in October last year.

While some of the shareholders were expecting a higher dividend, the AGM decided to pay 45 per cent divided for 1997-98, the highest-ever, as was approved by the board of directors earlier. The meeting also approved a donation of Rs 2 crore to the Gujarat government's `Gokul Gram Yojna' (ideal village scheme) for Kutch district and Rs 50 lakhs for Broach, where the company's major projects are located.

For a company with anequity base of Rs 318 crore, its profit before tax (PBT) had been more than 50 per cent and profit after tax (PAT) nearly 35 of the turnover. As against a turnover of Rs 239.14 crore posted in 1997-98, its PBT and PAT were at Rs 139.95 crore and Rs 85.70 crore respectively.