KENMARE Resources suspended the final dividend and unveiled plans to retrench employees as weak prices amid a capital roll-out and lower production weighed heavily on the firm’s 2025 annual results.
The heavy minerals miner reported a $23.7m adjusted loss for the 12 months ended December 31 (2024: +$64.9m) owing to a 6% decline in the average realised price of its mineral sales and as peak funding ($156m) for its $341m WCP A upgrade fell due. Delays in the commissioning of the WCP A upgrade also hit production while sales were lower.
The WCP A upgrade, which would be completed in the second half of this year, would incur $70m in capital costs in the current period, the company said.
At the basic earnings level, the company reported a $325m loss which included a previously announced $301m impairment as market prices for Kenmare’s products, chiefly ilmenite, zircon and rutile, are expected to remain subdued this year.
The outcome was an increase in net debt to $158.8m as of December 31 compared to $25m at the close of the 2024 financial year. “In light of the challenging market conditions, we have had to make some difficult but responsible decisions, including retrenching 15% of our Moma employees and suspending the 2025 final dividend,” said Tom Hickey, MD and CEO of Kenmare Resources.
Said Andrew Webb, chair of Kenmare: “We appreciate that this will be disappointing to many shareholders; however financial stability must be our priority during these challenging times”. Kenmare has paid dividends since 2019. Prior to that, it suspended payouts for three years amid a $275m recapitalisation.
As previously announced, Kenmare said it was discussing amendments to its lender convenant agreements related to a revolving credit facility “in light of the prevailing weak market conditions”.
Ilmenite is used in the manufacture of paint pigments while zircon is used in ceramics, minerals that feed the property markets which has been depressed in China, a key buyer. Commenting on the first quarter today, Hickey said “titanium feedstocks market continues to be soft” as forecast.
The company was tracking guided shipments for 2026 of about 1.1 million tons, lower than in previous years as the firm targeted ‘value over volume’ in terms of production and supplemented sales with inventory drawdowns.
Hickey said negotiations were continuing with Mozambique regarding a new Implementation Agreement which sets down processing and export regulations, specifically affecting items such as royalties and tax exemptions. “We are in constructive negotiations and both sides appreciate the importance of a near-term resolution,” he said.
Mozambique and Kenmare have been negotiating an extension of an ‘Implementation Agreement’ since around September 2022.
In late January, however, the Tax Authority in Mozambique instructed custom officials to impose new regulations which had been formulated in July 2025 following a meeting of the Mozambican Council of Ministers. These changes included an accelerated 3.5% royalty (by 2031) and revoked Moma as an ‘Industrial Free Zone’. These changes did not have the approval which said it is keeping open the option for international arbitration.
