Iluka shuts kiln, 23 workers affected

Iluka Resources says 23 employees and contractors will be affected by the shutdown of one of its Mid West Kilns, which was brought about by the global economic crisis.

The mineral sands miner today said it has brought forward by some three months the idling of one synthetic rutile kiln in a bid to improve efficiency in response to the crisis and the start of new rutile production from Murray Basin stage two.

"As a result of the decision to idle the kiln, it is expected that there will be 23 less Iluka employees and contractors required for the synthetic rutile operations," Iluka said.

"Iluka will seek to mitigate the impact on people involved, as it has done successfully with recent mine closures, via redeployment to other operations, where practicable to do so."

Earlier this year, the miner closed its Wagerup and Waroona operations in Western Australia.

Around 27 employees were affected, with 16 made redundant.

Today, Iluka said the kiln shutdown will trim its 2009 rutile production by 5 per cent to 450,000 tonnes.

The miner also reiterated that the major uncertainty for the year relates to short-term demand for its products, "through a combination of customer uncertainty about demand for their products and a logical desire, by those customers who are able to, to draw down on any existing inventories before committing to new product shipments".

Shares in Iluka were down 25 cents to $4 at 11:45 AEDT.