Citi has revised its price target for the Australian mineral sands mining company, Iluka (ASX:ILU) to A$10.00, down from A$11.80.

The brokerage has also cut its earnings estimates for the company through till the fiscal year 2025, owing to a weak pricing outlook for zircon and synthetic rutile.

Citi’s view for Iluka’s net profit in the fiscal year 2023 has been slashed by 15.5% to A$302.5 million, while the projection for the fiscal year 2024 has been reduced by 10% to A$303.4 million.

Iluka’s profit for the first half of 2023 was at a 44.1% decline at A$203.8 million due to low zircon sales and a poor product mix.

The company has also announced a pause in production at one of its synthetic rutile ovens at the Capel project located in Western Australia for four months.

The annual synthetic rutile output forecast by the company has been cut to 255 thousand tonnes from an initial 305 kt.

The company witnessed an 11.3% decline after the results were announced on Wednesday - its worst day since July 2012.

The brokerage revised its rating for the company from ‘neutral’ to ‘buy’, indicating that the risk-reward is ‘favourable enough’ and expecting more stimulus from China.

Iluka (ASX:ILU) is an Australian-based resources company specializing in mineral sands exploration, project development, operations, and marketing.