To those interested, below is an article I pulled from today's...

To those interested, below is an article I pulled from today's edition of The Australian about CEO and MD of Iluka Resources - David Robb.

It's enlightening to read about how Mr Robb manouvered this niche major through rather colourless times. He has really played things skillfully to date and deserves all the praise.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/miners-sing-the-praises-of-rock-star-robb/story-e6frg9if-1226230258858

IT is morning tea at the recent TZMI mineral sands conference in Hong Kong, and Iluka Resources chief executive David Robb is holding court with an expanding crowd of delegates hanging off his every word.
He's dressed in an open collar shirt with a sweater draped over his shoulders -- Mr Robb is at the conference simply to listen, rather than deliver a company presentation -- and fund managers, mineral sands customers and representatives from rival miners flock to hear his thoughts.
Mr Robb is the closest thing to a rock star that the comparatively insular mineral sands industry has. Iluka is a big fish in the sector, ranking as one of the world's biggest players. Mr Robb is also admired from outside the industry for turning Iluka from a tired, unprofitable miner into a cash cow and one of the best-performing stocks around.
Iluka has kept many a share portfolio above water during the volatile equity markets of the past few years. Since 2009, when Iluka sunk to a $108 million loss and its lowest share price in years, the company has achieved a remarkable turnaround.
The stock is up more than 470 per cent since the lows of July 2009 and is up more than 86 per cent since January. In comparison, the ASX 200 index is up about 8 per cent since July 2008 and down about 13 per cent this year.
According to analyst estimates, Iluka should deliver a net profit for calendar 2011 of between $450m and $535m. That will be dwarfed next year, with analysts predicting Iluka to generate about $1.3 billion in net profit.
Under Mr Robb's overhaul of the Iluka business, mines that had long been the backbone of the group were shut or scaled back while newer operations were brought on line. Arguably the most significant changes were in the markets for mineral sands, where Iluka worked hard to overhaul old pricing mechanisms and convince customers higher mineral sands prices wouldn't hurt their businesses.
Mr Robb, who quit as the head of Wesfarmers' coal division to take up what looked like a poisoned chalice at the long-underperformed Iluka in 2006, is pleased with the turnaround achieved by the group but recognises there is still a lot more work to be done.
"In my case it's all about the team achievement and that sense of collective achievement that is rewarding," he told The Australian, once he could extract himself from the band of conference delegates all eager for his time.
"That's a good feeling, and it also makes you more determined to protect it and sustain it."
Iluka and the mineral sands industry generally isn't immune from the woeful economic conditions gripping much of the world, but Mr Robb is convinced that Iluka is better protected from those conditions than most.
For one, he says, the key markets for zircon -- a product widely used in ceramics and tiles, and one of the higher-value materials in Iluka's mineral sands product suite -- are generally outside of the regions affected by the current sovereign debt issues.
"For zircon in particular, the ceramic-centric cultures, the tile-centric cultures tend to be Latin American, Asian, Islamic, Middle Eastern," Mr Robb said. "In those emerging economies -- economies that are not subject to deleveraging of government balance sheets like we are seeing in Europe -- there is no reason I can see for demand to be impacted."
Importantly, higher mineral sands prices have not hurt the profitability of Iluka's customers, for whom the rising price of the mineral sands represented only a small portion of the value of their end products and could easily be passed on to customers.
While the market for zircon is expected to flatten out early next year after a sustained upwards run in recent years, the market for Iluka's other mineral sands products is expected to improve.
Earlier this month, Iluka announced it expected an 80-85 per cent increase in rutile prices and 85-90 per cent increase in synthetic rutile prices next year. The scale of the increases were described as "amazing" by Morningstar analyst Matthew Hodge, given the weak global economic conditions.
One downside of the robust conditions in the industry is the rise in new and planned developments and the dampening effect a large influx of new supply could have. Rather than flood the market, Mr Robb says, the new suppliers will simply help satisfy the demand growth out of China.
"That is before you consider Brazil, India, Indonesia, Iran, Vietnam, all the rest of the big tile-producing countries in the world. Where are they going to get their supply? The questions of supply security, resource nationalism, ownership of raw material are a global concern and governments are paying it a lot more attention.
"Those who have the material are wanting to husband it, so you have seen bans on (titanium oxide) exports to China from countries that want to preserve it for their own use.
"And the other way, you have the big consuming nations seeking to induce investment to encourage extra production or to own it and capture themselves."
In addition, the nature of the mineral sands industry ensures that the new production scheduled for the market will take longer than expected and cost more than planned.
Despite their size and expertise, both Rio Tinto in Madagascar and BHP Billiton at Beenup in Western Australia have experienced difficulties in starting new mineral sands mines.
"If you encounter challenges in performance of the plant in this industry, there really is nobody to turn to," Mr Robb said.
"You need to be quite self-sufficient in your ability to problem-solve. And it is generally the case that orebodies do not perform entirely as expected, no matter how much drilling you do."
Having gone through a number of lean years, Iluka now has the pleasant problem of working out how to use its increasing cash position. Organic growth, naturally, remains a key priority and the company has spelt out plans to more than double its existing reserve base from inside the current asset portfolio.
But acquisitions and higher dividend payments are also on the radar. "It's a company that's been through a period where it's had few degrees of freedom, and has been quite constrained in how it could improve its profitability and then grow," Mr Robb said.
We've got that improved freedom now.
"We can look to organic growth, we can look to improve ongoing distributions to shareholders. Return on capital and return on equity in the business looks to be very strong looking forward, and our challenge is to use that wisely. And where we can't, give it to shareholders and let them use it."
He isn't afraid to look outside of mineral sands for acquisitions, but any purchases would have to tie in to Iluka's existing skills and knowledge.
Could that include a return to the coal industry, where Mr Robb initially made his name?
"The hard coking coal business is fantastic and it appears thermal coal is likewise these days. (But) there's a lot of letters on the periodic table, and a lot of minerals that people don't think about too much," he said. "Anything that is currently sexy you would have to say it's difficult to find the right value proposition, other than through exploration."