www.gpm.asia
owneRShiP
Privately owned
Key PeRSonneL
Evgeny Volosov- Chairman
Natalya Tsoi – Chief Executive Officer Vardan Muradyan- Chief Financial Officer Nguyen Anh Nam – Deputy CEO
BaCKGRounD
GPM Asia started with acquisitions of Amigo Minerals in 2009 and Tan Phat Minerals in 2010 in Vietnam. GPM Asia specialises in mining and processing of minerals, including mineral sands.
oPeRationS
GPM Asia operates a mineral sands separation plant in Vietnam that processes ilmenite, zircon, rutile and monazite concentrates.
In October 2012, it was reported that GPM Asia was looking to carry out a titanium deep-processing project in Vietnam’s central province of Binh Thuan in order to invest in titanium and pigment processing.
In December 2012, the company reported that it had formed a Strategic Alliance Agreement with Centurion Minerals Ltd to explore projects in Myanmar, Laos and Indonesia.
ReCent DeveLoPMentS
GPM reported it had built a new processing plant with capacity to 200,000 tpa HMC.
In November 2013, Rang Dong Group and GPM signed a joint-venture agreement for mineral exploration, mining and downstream processing of produced minerals in Vietnam.
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iLuKa ReSouRCeS
www.iluka.com
owneRShiP
Publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange
Key PeRSonneL
David Robb – Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Alan Tate – Chief Financial Officer, Head of Strategy and Planning Steve Wickham – Chief Operating Officer – mineral sands
Chris Cobb – Head of Alliances, New Ventures and Royalties Doug Warden – Head of Resources Development, Mineral Sands Matthew Blackwell – Head of Marketing, Mineral Sands
Cameron Wilson – Chief Legal Counsel and Head of Corporate Acquisitions
BaCKGRounD
Iluka Resources Limited was formed by the merger of RGC Limited and Westralian Sands Limited in December 1998. The mineral sands operations of the two companies were integrated and corporate management centred in Perth, Western Australia.
Iluka has a zircon-rich deposit, Jacinth-Ambrosia, in the Eucla Basin, South Australia. Applications for initial tenements were made in September 2001 and by July 2004, the company had achieved Native Title clearance. Iluka approved the development of the Jacinth-Ambrosia mineral sands project in May 2008 with an initial capital expenditure of A$420 million. Final capital expenditure was estimated at approximately A$390 million.
Mining at the Murray Basin deposits commenced in 2004. Although it is a principal source of rutile production, the Murray Basin region also contributes significant zircon output annually.
In Western Australia, Iluka had operations in the Mid West and the South West regions.
Commenced in 1975, Iluka’s Eneabba mining operation in the Mid West used to be a significant zircon producing region in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 2010, zircon output from this region declined substantially as mining in the Mid West ceased.
In the South West, Capel was the first mining and minerals site when the company began operations in the 1950s. Iluka completed mining activities in the region in 2009.
Iluka’s Virginia operations in the US commenced in 1997 with the commissioning of the Old Hickory project. In December 2007, the Iluka Board approved the development of the Brink deposit. This project involved the establishment of a new mine and relocation of the Old Hickory concentrator. The approved capital expenditure for the Brink project was US$27.5 million and first production from Brink was achieved in April 2009. The Virginia operations produce chloride ilmenite as well as a high quality zircon product.
oPeRationS
Victoria/New South Wales, Australia - Murray Basin operations:
Iluka conducts mining operations at the Woornack, Rownack and Pirro deposit and processing operations at Hamilton in the southern region of the Murray Basin. Iluka has progressively mined multiple deposits in the Murray Basin (Douglas, Echo, Kulwin) and plans to move to its next deposit in southern New South Wales, Balranald in mid 2016, subject to Board approval.
Final product is trucked from Hamilton to the Port of Portland, 80 km to the south of Hamilton, for export.
Three main deposits underpinned the initial stage of the company’s development of the Murray Basin; Bondi Main, Bondi West and Bondi East all located in Victoria. Iluka also undertook mining at a satellite deposit, Echo, which ended in 2011.
In 2008, the Board of Iluka approved A$209 million in capital expenditure for the development of Murray Basin Stage 2, which involved the development and mining of the first of several deposits in the northern Murray Basin. First production of HMC from the northern Murray Basin deposits occurred in October 2009 at the Kulwin deposit.
Mining operations commenced at Woornack, Rownack and Pirro, approximately 25 km from Kulwin in mid-2012. Mining at these sites is expected to cease in 1H 2015. Iluka is currently undertaking a definitive feasibility study for the Balranald and Nepean deposits.
South Australia, Eucla Basin operations:
The company holds a large tenement position in the Eucla Basin (approximately 50,000 km2).
To date, multiple HM discoveries have been made with JORC Mineral Resources applied to the following: Jacinth, Ambrosia, Tripitaka, Atacama, Sonoran and Typhoon.
Iluka commenced operations at the Jacinth-Ambrosia deposits in late 2009 and achieved name plate capacity in mid-2010. Jacinth-Ambrosia produces a zircon rich HMC (greater than 50%
zircon) which is transported by shuttle vessels for processing at the Narngulu processing plant in Western Australia or to Hamilton, Victoria. Jacinth-Ambrosia has a zircon production capacity of about 300,000 tpa.
The Jacinth-Ambrosia deposits contain a HM resource of 9.5 million tonnes. Average grade of the deposit is 6.5% with an average assemblage of 50% zircon, 5% rutile and 28% ilmenite.
Western Australia, Perth Basin operations:
Iluka’s Perth Basin operation, north of Perth Western Australia, includes mining operations at Tutunup South, a dry separation plant at Capel, the Narngulu MSP near Geraldton and four SR kilns at Capel and Narngulu. Assets at Narngulu include a mineral separation plant, a zircon finishing plant, a mobile Kelsey Jig plant, port operations and storage facilities. These facilities were upgraded in 2009/10 to accept Jacinth-Ambrosia heavy mineral concentrate. HMC processing began at the Narngulu mineral processing facility in Western Australia in January 2010.
Based on prevailing market conditions in 2012 and entering 2013, Iluka’s activities at the Eneabba mine were idled, effective March 2013. At the end of the second quarter in 2013, the Tutunup South mine and SR kiln 2 were idled.
Virginia, US:
Two mines with separate concentrators (Old Hickory, commissioned in 1997 and Concord, commissioned in 2002) produce heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) which was then trucked 20 km to the dry processing plant located at Stony Creek, 69 km south of Richmond. With the development of the Brink deposit, the Old Hickory concentrator was relocated and a new mine developed.
ReCent DeveLoPMentS
Iluka’s full year results released in January 2013 showed a 31% decrease in production for zircon, rutile and SR.
During the Christmas New Year period of 2012/13, Iluka suspended a major part of its operational base to reduce production.
Iluka almost halved its production for zircon, rutile and synthetic rutile in 2013 relative to 2012 levels. It also announced major cost cutting measures which included: 250 jobs made redundant at its Australian operations; Eneabba operations idled from April 2013; continued idling of SR kiln 3 at Narngulu; idling of its SR kiln 2 in Capel from the end of Q2; idling of its Tutunup South mine from the end of Q2; zircon production cut by 60% at Narngulu; and its Hamilton MSP to be operated on a one month on, one month off basis. >>
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In August 2013, Iluka reported it was progressing six projects, with three at or moving to definitive feasibility study (Cataby and Balranald in Australia and Hickory in Virginia, US), and with three in pre-feasibility or scoping study stage (Sonoran, Atacama and Typhoon deposits in the Eucla Basin, Aurelian Springs in North Carolina and recently acquired Sri Lankan deposits).
In October 2013, Iluka announced that it had acquired all the issued capital in Sri Lankan-based PKD. The company was granted four exploration tenements and had conditionally agreed to buy all issued capital of PKD Resources Ltd (PKD), which holds another exploration tenement. All five tenements are in the northwest of Sri Lanka and cover an area of approximately 146 km2. The company stated that the tenements contained mineral sand resources of 689 million tonnes of material at an average heavy mineral (HM) grade of 8.2% of 56 million tonnes of HM, which included 37 million tonnes of ilmenite, 2 million tonnes of rutile and 1.9 million tonnes of zircon.
Iluka also stated its intention to do feasibility studies with a view to developing these resources.
Iluka will begin feasibility work at the tenements once it has secured all necessary approvals.
In January 2014, Iluka Resources reported that for the quarter ended December 2013 (Q4 2013), total mineral sands production of 207,100 tonnes, down 26% on 281,700 tonnes in Q4 2012. Zircon production increased 21% to 68,500 tonnes, compared to 56,500 tonnes in Q4 2012. Rutile production fell 60% to 22,200 tonnes from 56,700 tonnes in Q4 2012.
For the full year 2013, Iluka reported a 29% fall in mineral sands production to 1.056 million tonnes compared to 1.486 million tonnes in 2012, which the company stated was in line with its market guidance and reflected its preferred constrained production approach during low market demand periods.
In February 2014, Iluka entered an agreement to purchase an 18.3% interest in Metalysis for A$22.5 million after Metalysis’ trials revealed it could produce titanium powder directly from Iluka’s rutile feedstock. As part of the agreement, in the advent that Metalysis, which is currently privately owned, initiates an initial public offering, Iluka has the right to increase its stake in Metalysis up to 24.9%.
For 2014, Iluka announced its production costs would be higher than 2013, but it planned to produce more by-products. The company’s production guidance is higher for all minerals including 360,000 tpa for zircon and 190,000 tpa for rutile.