Iluka’s new mineral sands mine nears commissioning
Australian miner Iluka Resources is progressing its mineral sands and rare earths strategy, with the company set to commission its Balranald mine in the second half of 2025 while advancing studies on additional deposits in western Victoria.
In its full-year results announcement on Wednesday, MD Tom O’Leary said development at Balranald was “well advanced". Over its ten-year mine life, Balranald is expected to produce 60 000 t/y of natural rutile, 50 000 t/y of high-quality zircon, and concentrate feedstocks to support the production of synthetic rutile and rare earths.
“Each of these commodities is crucial in the context of declining industry supply,” O’Leary stated.
Iluka also reported progress on the Wimmera project, where a definitive feasibility study is focused on the WIM100 deposit—one of several long-life rare earths and zircon sources the company is pursuing in western Victoria. Additionally, Iluka announced a resource estimate for the Goschen South deposit, which contains an indicated and inferred mineral resource of 630-million tonnes, grading 3.7% heavy minerals for 24-million tonnes.
Meanwhile, the company is developing Australia’s first fully integrated rare earths refinery at Eneabba, Western Australia. The Goschen South project has the potential to provide significant additional feedstock for this facility.
In December, Iluka secured an expansion of the Australian government’s nonrecourse loan facility from A$1.25-billion to A$1.65-billion to support the Eneabba refinery.
“Iluka’s objective is to deliver sustainable value, and we expect our rare earths business to underpin this for decades. With Eneabba’s capital structure now certain, our focus is on project delivery, operational performance, market development, and securing long-term feedstock,” O’Leary said.
Iluka posted a 33% decrease in profit for the year to A$231-million, while mineral sands revenue fell by 9% to A$1.13-billion.
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