PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral sands miner Iluka on Thursday announced plans to re-activate part of its Western Australian synthetic rutile production capacity.
MD David Robb told shareholders that following the completion of detailed planning and negotiations, the company had taken the decision to restart its synthetic rutile kiln 2 in April this year.
The kiln is capable of producing 200 000 t/y of synthetic rutile, and was idled in March 2013, as market demand for the product declined. Since then, Iluka has supplied synthetic rutile from inventories of finished products, with the company selling 82 000 t in 2014.
“Iluka maintains an ability to reactivate further synthetic rutile capacity as and when market demand and commercial conditions are appropriate. Iluka’s planning for major projects, notably the development of the Cataby deposit in Western Australia and the Balranald deposit in the Murray basin, are well advanced, as Iluka advised in the full-year results,” Robb said.
He noted that both deposits had the potential to produce material quantities of ilmenite, with Balranald expected to produce some 700 000 t/y and Cataby a further 350 000 t/y.
Furthermore, Iluka’s Eneabba deposit was also a potential source of suitable ilmenite feed, depending on market requirements.
The reactivation of the synthetic rutile kiln has been preceded by the restart of mining at the Tutunup South mine, which would provide feedstock to the kiln. Some 80 employees and 70 contractors have been, or will be, recruited to support the mine restart as well as the kiln activation.
Robb pointed out that the reactivation of the kiln would also allow for further trials of new products, including Iluka’s potential new high-grade sulphate pigment feedstock.