Iluka doubled its interim sales revenue

July 20, 2010 - Iluka Resources almost doubled its interim sales revenue as demand for mineral sands picked up.
Mineral sand sales jumped to A$378,4-million, or 98%, in the half-year ended June 30, compared with the first six months of 2009.
The sales volumes in the first half of the year have recovered from the historic low levels experienced in the first half of 2009, which was affected by the adverse impact on demand flowing from the global financial crisis.
The recovery in the demand for zircon reflected a rebound in Chinese demand, to preglobal economic crisis levels, as well as a recovery in European and a robust North American demand.
Iluka is the world's largest supplier of zircon and holds a 35% market share in China.
The company's zircon sales volumes for the first six months of 2010, had increased nearly fourfold to 205,400 t, while rutile sales volumes were up threefold to 101,600 t.
The zircon sales to date exceeded the production at around 163,200 t, and have led to a drawdown of inventory as well as the sale of the final product from the now defunct Western Australian mining operations.
Production from the newly ramped-up Murray Basin stage two, and the Jacinth-Ambrosia projects did not contribute towards the sales volumes, as the projects only came on stream towards the end of the June quarter.
However, the two projects boosted production figures relative to the March quarter. During the quarter under review, the South Australian Jacinth-Ambrosia and the Victorian Murray Basin stage-two projects both reached targeted production rates.
Zircon production for the quarter ended June, increased by 79% to 104,700 t, while rutile production increased by 25,6% to 56,900 t. Synthetic rutile production was also up by 3,2% to 88,300 t, compared with the March quarter.
Iluka noted that zircon production for the six months to June, was 1% lower at 163,200 t, while rutile production was 60,9% higher for the half-year, topping 102,200 t.
Synthetic rutile production during the interim period decreased to 173 900 t, which reflected the decision to idle two synthetic kilns during 2009. However, the mineral-sands miner noted that an improved throughput at the Western Australian synthetic kiln enabled higher-than-forecasted production during the first half of the year.
Looking ahead, Iluka noted that the constrained supply of both zircon and high-grade titanium dioxide products would exert a "significant" influence upon market dynamics, as macromarket demand for mineral sands was shaped by global and regional growth patterns.
The company had previously reported that it expected a total production of around one-million tons of zircon and rutile between 2011 and 2013.