Mineral sands producer Iluka Resources has laid off nearly 100 workers in a significant round of redundancies linked to the suspension of a key Western Australian mine.
Scope of the Redundancies
A total of 91 employees across Iluka's operations were made redundant in December 2025. This included 38 positions at the company's head office in Perth, representing approximately 13 per cent of its corporate workforce in the city. The remaining job cuts were distributed across several sites.
The affected locations include the now-mothballed Cataby mine, situated 150 kilometres north of Perth, the Capel processing plant 210km south of Perth, an office in Adelaide, and the Hamilton mine in Victoria. Following these cuts, Iluka ended the year with 956 employees on its books.
Decision Driven by Weak Market
The job losses are a direct consequence of Iluka's decision to pause mining at its Cataby operation from December 1, 2025. The company also switched off one of the two synthetic rutile kilns at its Capel processing facility, which handles output from Cataby.
Chief Executive Tom O'Leary described the move as a "prudent" response to demand uncertainty in the global market for synthetic rutile. This high-grade titanium dioxide product, made from Cataby's chloride ilmenite, is primarily used in pigment manufacturing. A prolonged downturn in this market forced Iluka to scale back its operations.
"It reflects the discipline that is a longstanding feature of Iluka’s approach," Mr O'Leary stated when the mine suspension was announced in September.
Impact on Workforce and Future Projects
The Cataby mine directly employed about 130 Iluka staff and 200 contractors from Piacentini & Son. While contractors bore the brunt of the job losses at the site, most of Iluka's permanent workforce were retained and either remained on site for care and maintenance or were redeployed to other company projects.
A key destination for redeployed staff is the $1.7 billion Eneabba rare earths refinery, currently under construction north of Jurien Bay. Iluka has confirmed that the December redundancies will not impact the development timeline for this flagship project. First production at Eneabba is slated for 2027.
The refinery will process old monazite stockpiles from Iluka's Narngulu plant in Geraldton, along with ore from other miners, into refined rare earth materials. Iluka's strategic push into the rare earths sector helped drive a 13 per cent rise in its share price during 2025, offsetting a significant profit slide in its core mineral sands business.
The company's net profit for the first half of 2025 was $92 million, down from $134 million in the first half of 2024 and less than half of the $204 million profit recorded for the same period in 2023.
