Illuka idles rutile kiln early
miningweekly.com
By: Liezel Hill
26th March 2009
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Iluka Resources, the world's biggest producer of zircon, has decided to idle one of its four synthetic rutile kilns, in Western Australia, earlier than planned.
Synthetic rutile kiln four will now be idled in April, rather than mid-year as previously announced.
The decision is part of ongoing measures to improve efficiencies, in response to the global economic crisis and in preparation for the start-up of new, higher value rutile production from the company's Murray Basin Stage 2 project.
The early closure will result in the loss of 23 jobs, although the company will try to mitigate the cuts by redeploying people to other operations, Iluka said.
The group has reduced its production forecast for this year about about 5%, to about 450 000 t of synthetic rutile.
“The major uncertainty for Iluka in relation to 2009 relates to short term demand for the company’s products,” said MD David Robb.
In January, Iluka announced it would close two mines this year, in a move to focus on higher-grade, more profitable operations.
Shares in the company fell 5,4% on Thursday, to A$4,02 in Sydney. |
