Incitec Pivot to lose 23.5m from outage

Incitec Pivot Ltd says its Phosphate Hill ammonia plant will be offline until mid-next week as the group continues to address a series of performance issues at an estimated  cost of $23.5 million after tax.

In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, the group estimated the closure would see ammonium phosphate production for the second half to September 30 drop to 400,000 tonnes, while full-year production is tipped to slip to 763,000 tonnes.

Incitec had forecast the plant to produce 870,000 tonnes for the full year back in May.

The plant went offline earlier this month when site management identified performance issues with the iso-thermal shift reactor.

While undertaking repairs, some additional emergent works have become necessary, the company said.