Iluka Resources Limited (Iluka) will today hold its 68th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.
Shareholders will vote on five resolutions: the re-election of Director Susie Corlett; the re-election of Director Lynne Saint; the adoption of the remuneration report and the grant of securities to the Managing Director (two separate resolutions).
Together, these initiatives represent a considerable evolution for our company in a short space of time. And I think it's worth adding that we've carried this out while delivering average annual operating cash flows of $485 million per annum over the past five years; achieving a net cash position of $431 million as of last quarter; managing the myriad impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and realising total shareholder returns of 152% between the beginning of 2019 and the end of 2022. It's an impressive performance that is ultimately testament to Iluka's people. On behalf of the Board, I would like to acknowledge that work and commitment, which we've observed right across the company. Tom and his team have done an excellent job - not just this past year but indeed over the past several years - delivering on Iluka's objective against an uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop. They have also once again repositioned our company, this time perhaps more substantially and with more potential than at any point in its past
In his farewell address last year my predecessor spoke about the importance of Iluka's reputation given the trust invested in us by our stakeholders. As ever, the Board is particularly focused on its first and foremost responsibility to ensure the safety of our people. I am pleased that we've had an improved safety performance thus far this year following a mixed performance last year, where we decreased our serious potential injuries but recorded an increase in TRIFR. It is also vitally important that we continue to be an industry leader on environmental rehabilitation. In October, our work in this area was further recognised by the Government of Western Australia via a prestigious Golden Gecko award for environmental excellence. We received this for our bespoke seeding machine, the Flora Restorer - another internally developed innovation that has allowed us to more than double the annual area rehabilitated to native vegetation at Eneabba. In all, we rehabilitated 574 hectares of land in 2022 at a cost of $61 million. The decarbonisation of Iluka's operations is technically complex and the subject of dedicated emphasis. Our particular challenge relates to the use of coal as a reductant to produce synthetic rutile, for which there is no commercially feasible alternative. Work has commenced on the identification and assessment of potential low emission alternatives and we are also in the process of identifying decarbonisation pathways across the broader company. This includes continuing to implement renewable energy to power our operations. I alluded earlier to developments in the global economy. While these have always been relevant to Iluka's business, as Tom will cover shortly, at present there are macro trends that are seeing increased attention paid to our country, our industry and our company. Much of the world's attention is focussed on the safe, secure and sustainable supply of critical minerals for strategic purposes and to enable the energy transition. This plays directly to Iluka's history and strength - mining and processing critical minerals in Australia - and the tremendous opportunities made possible by the company's evolution over the past three years. The result is that we face a bright future; one we are determined to seize, consistent with our objective to deliver sustainable value. I thank shareholders for their ongoing support in these endeavours and will now hand over to Tom for his address The alternatives are worth touching on. If Australia elects to export its rare earths feedstocks unrefined, that can only serve to strengthen the industry's existing major players, contrary to our policy objectives, particularly for heavy rare earths. There are some who advocate a phased approach whereby unrefined concentrates are exported initially, with a refinery to be established at some vague point in the future, when cashflows and other circumstances allow. History shows the second phase remains conspicuous by its absence, and exports of unrefined concentrates continue, while downstream incumbents offshore keep getting stronger. Similarly, if other countries establish metallisation capability with speed to market, and Australia does not, it is those nations that will inevitably be the destination of investment to develop magnet industries. The tyranny of distance and transport costs to more populated markets - the 'next step' in the value chain - was one key hurdle that constrained Australia's success in the downstream industries of the twentieth century. This constraint has no application to highly valuable critical minerals that have quantities measured in kilograms rather than in the millions of tonnes. Rare earth oxides, metals and magnets can readily bear the cost of transport. Iluka is already at the forefront of expanding the range of opportunities available to Australia. Our Eneabba refinery will produce separated neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, with the latter two heavy rare earth oxides a key competitive advantage for Iluka and for Australia over other sources of Western world supply. Remember - China at present accounts for practically all the world's dysprosium and terbium oxide production, including that which it sources from Myanmar. Iluka's internal feedstocks for Eneabba include our unique rare earths stockpile, our Wimmera development in Western Victoria and our Balranald development in New South Wales. All of the operations and projects in the company's portfolio will contribute rare earth feedstocks to the refinery. In addition, Eneabba has been designed specifically with the size and capability to process a broad range of feedstocks provided by third parties. Whereas previously Australian rare earth resources would have to have been refined overseas, this is no longer the case.
Iluka Resources Limited is an Australia-based critical minerals company. The Company is a producer of zircon and high-grade titanium dioxide feedstocks, rutile and synthetic rutile. Its mining and processing operations are located in South Australia and Western Australia. Its project suite includes Wimmera, Victoria; Balranald, New South Wales; Atacama, South Australia, and Eneabba, Western Australia. Its segments include Jacinth-Ambrosia/Mid West (JA/MW), Cataby/South West (C/SW), Rare Earths (RE) and United States/Murray Basin (US/MB). JA/MW segment comprises the mining operations at Jacinth-Ambrosia located in South Australia, and associated processing operations at the Narngulu mineral separation plant in mid-west Western Australia. C/SW segment comprises mining activities at Cataby and processing of ilmenite at Synthetic Rutile Kilns 1 and 2, located in Western Australia. RE segment comprises the Eneabba Rare Earths Refinery that is being constructed in Western Australia.
ILUKA RESOURCES LIMITED 
