Mineral Sands

Content maintained by Yanis Miezitis

• Mineral Sands
• Resources
• Accessible EDR
• JORC Reserves
• Duration of Resources
• Exploration
• Production
• World Ranking
• Industry Developments

The principal components of mineral sands are rutile (TiO₂), ilmenite (FeTiO₃), zircon (ZrSiO₄) and monazite ([Ce,La,Th]PO₄). Rutile, ilmenite, leucoxene (an alteration product of ilmenite) are used predominantly in the production of titanium dioxide pigment. The titanium-bearing minerals rutile and leucoxene are sometimes blended to produce 'HiTi' ('High grade titanium' with a TiO₂ content of 70% to 95%) and is used as a feedstock to produce titanium dioxide, make titanium metals for the aerospace industry and to manufacture welding rods. Less than 4% of total titanium mineral production, typically rutile, is used in making titanium sponge metal.  Zircon is used as an opacifier for glazes on ceramic tiles, in refractories and for the foundry industry. Recently there has been renewed interest in monazite as a source of thorium for possible use to generate electricity in thorium nuclear reactors.

Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) of ilmenite decreased by 0.4% to 199.5 million tonnes (Mt) in 2010, down from 200.4Mt in 2009. About 53.4% of Australia's EDR of ilmenite is in Western Australia (WA) and 19.3% is in Queensland (Qld) with the remainder in Victoria (Vic) 14.6%, New South Wales (NSW) 9.7% and South Australia (SA) 3.0%.

EDR of rutile, which includes some leucoxene in WA, increased by 3.5% from 22.7Mt in 2009 to 23.5Mt in 2010. Victoria has the largest share of Australia's rutile EDR with 35.8% followed by Qld (23.7%), NSW (19.1%), WA (18.2%) and SA (3.0%).

EDR of zircon decreased from 40.0Mt in 2009 to 39.4Mt in 2010 with WA (30.8%), Vic (25.0%) and Qld (20.6%) accounting for most of Australia's zircon EDR. The balance was in SA (14.2%) and NSW (9.3%).

Australia's Subeconomic Demonstrated Resources of ilmenite, rutile and zircon in 2010 amounted to 38.8Mt of ilmenite, which was an increase of 28.5% on 2009, 7.1Mt of rutile, unchanged from previous year, and 10.4Mt of zircon, unchanged from the 2009 figure.

Inferred Resources of ilmenite increased by 0.9% in 2010 to 128.3Mt. Victoria has the largest proportion of inferred ilmenite resources with 46.2% of the Australian total followed by NSW (21.7%), WA (13.2%) and Qld (12.0%).

Inferred Resources of rutile decreased to 30.1Mt from 31.3Mt in 2009. Victoria has the largest share of Australia's inferred rutile resources with 54.6% of the Australian total followed by NSW (29.5%), Qld (6.1%), SA (6.1%) and WA (3.1%).

Inferred Resources of zircon increased to 34.9Mt from 34.3Mt in 2009. Victoria is the main holder of zircon Inferred Resources with 59.1% of the Australian total, followed by NSW (18.4%), WA (8.2%) and Qld (8.1%).

A significant portion of mineral sands EDR is in areas quarantined from mining because they are largely incorporated in national parks. Geoscience Australia estimates that around 16% of ilmenite, 14% of rutile and 16% of zircon EDR is unavailable for mining. Deposits in this category include Moreton Island, Bribie Island and Fraser Island, the Cooloola sand mass, the Byfield sand mass and the Shoalwater Bay area, in Qld and the Yuraygir, Bundjalung, Hat Head and Myall Lakes National Parks in NSW.

• About 17% of Australia's ilmenite Accessible EDR (AEDR), 24% rutile AEDR and 27% zircon AEDR comprise Reserves as defined under the Joint Ore Reserve Committee (JORC) Code.
• About 83% of Australia's ilmenite AEDR, 76% rutile AEDR and 73% zircon AEDR comprises published JORC Code compliant Measured and Indicated Resources. Some of these resources are in deposits of operating mines and mines being developed as well as in deposits which have published scoping/feasibility studies with positive results and deposits which are of comparable size and grade to those being mined elsewhere in Australia. It is not possible to make a more detailed analysis of these resources on an individual deposit scale because of a lack of resource data.

Approximately 17% of ilmenite, 24% rutile and 27% zircon of AEDR comprise JORC Code Reserves. The remaining AEDR represents resources assessed by Geoscience Australia from the Measured and Indicated categories of industry reported mineral resources as defined under the JORC Code and other classification systems used by companies not listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

At the rate of production in 2010, Australia's AEDR of ilmenite, rutile and zircon is sufficient for an average of 127 years for ilmenite (109 years in 2009), 47 for rutile (69) and 61 for zircon (71). However, resources in the JORC Code reserves categories are adequate for only 22 years for ilmenite (18 years in 2009), 11 for rutile (18), and 16 for zircon (18). Variations in resource life based on the AEDR are due to the changing levels of production of the three commodities. For example, lower production in response to a fall in demand because of global recessions may give an impression of an increase in resource life not necessarily related to an increase in resources. Such trends may be reversed with resumption of demand and, as a consequence, represent snapshots at that time of the resource life.

Expenditure on exploration for mineral sands in 2009 amounted to $28.4 million but expenditure for 2010 is not available.

In 2010, Australia produced 1.313Mt of ilmenite, 430 000 tonnes of rutile, 160 000 tonnes of leucoxene and 540 000 tonnes of zircon compared with 1.534Mt of ilmenite, 280 000 tonnes of rutile, 166 000 tonnes of leucoxene and 476 000 tonnes of zircon in 2009.  About 1.816Mt of ilmenite, 584 000 tonnes of rutile and 811 000 tonnes of zircon were exported in 2010, with exports exceeding production for all of these commodities in 2010. Australia also produced 557 000 tonnes of synthetic rutile in 2010 compared with 616 000 tonnes in 2009.

According to Iluka Resources Ltd¹, there was a recovery in demand in 2010 across the company's entire product range of heavy mineral sand commodities from the depressed conditions experienced in 2009. This occurred to such an extent that Iluka was not able to meet all customer requirements for supply and expects to face a similar challenge in 2011.

According to Geoscience Australia and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) data, Australia's EDR of rutile and zircon represent the world's largest economic resources with 49%, and 44%, respectively. Australia also has the second largest share of the world's ilmenite with 16%, behind China, which has 31%. Other major country rankings include India (13%), South Africa (10%) and Brazil (7%) for ilmenite, South Africa (17%) and India (16%) for rutile and South Africa (24%) and Ukraine (7%) for zircon.

In 2010, world production of ilmenite increased by 12.1% to 10.2Mt, rutile increased by 40.9% to 727 000 tonnes, and zircon increased by 4.3% to 1.244Mt. Australia is the largest producer of rutile with about 59% of the world production followed by South Africa with 18% and Sierra Leone with 9%. Australia is the third largest producer of ilmenite with 13% after South Africa with 21% and Canada with 13%, and is the largest producer of zircon with 43% followed by South Africa with 31% and China with 11%.

Companies which produced heavy mineral sands during 2010 were Iluka Resources Ltd, Bemax Resources Ltd, Tiwest joint venture and Doral Mineral Sands Pty Ltd, all in WA, and Sibelco Australia Ltd in Qld. Iluka and Bemax also produced heavy minerals in the Murray Basin in Vic and NSW and at the Matilda Zircon Limited deposits on the Tiwi Islands off the Northern Territory (NT).

Iluka Resources Ltd heavy mineral sand operations in WA are located in two regions, the mid-west region north of Perth and in the State's southwest region south of Perth.

The coastal mid-west region north of Perth comprises the main mines of Eneabba (two wet concentrators, five mining units) and Gingin (wet concentrator, one mining unit). The region includes the company's Narngulu facility at Geraldton comprising mineral separation, zircon finishing and synthetic rutile plants as well as port operations and storage facilities at Geraldton. Iluka has upgraded its Narngulu plant to process heavy mineral concentrates (HMC) from its Jacinth-Ambrosia deposits in the Eucla Basin in SA.

Eneabba mining operations were idled and zircon production from the southwest region was transported to Narngulu in the mid-west. Iluka Resources continued to idle two of its four ilmenite upgrading kilns during 2010 and a third in 2011 because of inadequate returns from ilmenite upgrading (synthetic rutile manufacturing) activities in recent years. During 2010, the company developed the Tutunup South deposit which is operating and will provide ilmenite feedstock for synthetic rutile production at Narngulu and allow recommencement of operations at a second synthetic rutile kiln in 2012.

The production of heavy mineral sand commodities in 2010 from the company's mining and processing activities in WA, now referred to as the Perth Basin, amounted to 41 500 tonnes of rutile, 347 500 tonnes of synthetic rutile, 255 800 tonnes of ilmenite, and 46 200 tonnes of zircon.

In the Eucla Basin in SA, Iluka Resources operates the Jacinth-Ambrosia mine and owns the Tripitaka, Typhoon and the newly discovered Atacama deposits. Mining at the Jacinth-Ambrosia mine reached full-scale production rates of 300 000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of zircon concentrates in the first half of 2010. Production from the Jacinth-Ambrosia mine during 2010 amounted to 150 900 tonnes of zircon, 10 200 tonnes of rutile and 120 800 tonnes of ilmenite. The heavy mineral concentrates from the Jacinth-Ambrosia mine are transported 270 kilometres (km) by road to the Port of Thevenard near Ceduna, SA before being sent about 2500km by sea to Geraldton for mineral separation at Iluka's upgraded Narngulu Plant 2 in the mid-west region. On 28 January 2011 Iluka announced resources for its Atacama deposit as 29.2Mt grading at 11.3% heavy minerals with a heavy mineral assemblage comprising 75% ilmenite (includes leucoxene), 15% zircon and 2% rutile at a heavy mineral cut-off grade of 5%. The Atacama deposit differs from the Jacinth-Ambrosia deposit in that it contains a zircon component in the heavy mineral concentrate of around 15% which compares with around 50% for the Jacinth-Ambrosia deposit.

Iluka Resources Douglas project near Horsham in western Vic is based on the resources of three main deposits, Bondi Main, Bondi West and Bondi East. The infrastructure includes a single mining unit, a wet concentrator and a mineral separation plant at Hamilton to produce the final specification rutile and zircon. The capacity of the mineral separation plant was upgraded to process additional feedstock from the Murray Basin Stage 2 development at Kulwin, 30km west of Ouyen in northwest Vic. Production from the Murray Basin operations in 2010 totalled 198 400 tonnes rutile, 56 800 tonnes ilmenite and 156 600 tonnes zircon.

The Murray Basin Stage 2 development is based on a group of deposits at Ouyen in northwest Vic, with two-thirds of Iluka’s heavy mineral resources in Murray Basin at Kulwin, Woornack, Rownack, Rainlover, and Pirro along with another group at Euston in NSW named Castaway, Kerribee, Earl, Dispersion and Koolaman. Full scale production of heavy mineral concentrates from the Murray Basin Stage 2 at the Kulwin mine was reached by mid 2010. Mining and concentration activities at Kulwin are expected to cease in the first quarter of 2012 and the mining unit and concentrator plant at Kulwin will be relocated to Woornack, Rownack and Pirro deposits approximately 25km away.

In 2010, Iluka completed a scoping study for the Balranald project to progress the project to a pre-feasibility study. The Balranald project comprises the deposits of West Balranald and Nepean in south western NSW. The deposits are large, but also deeper than other deposits which Iluka Resources has mined in the Murray Basin. The Balranald deposit contains approximately 14.5Mt of heavy mineral resources, with rutile assemblages ranging from 12% to 15%. The pre-feasibility study is expected to take two years and include:

• evaluation of various mining methods;
• ground water management studies;
• engineering options; and
• transport and logistics studies.

The heavy mineral resources/reserves held by Bemax Resources Limited (a controlled entity of Cristal Australia Pty Ltd) are located in old shorelines in two provinces – the Murray Basin of Vic and NSW, and the southwest region of WA.

The company's operations in the Murray Basin include the Ginkgo and Snapper mines and a mineral separation plant at Broken Hill in western NSW. A floating wet concentrator was successfully floated at the Snapper mine in November 2010. A dredge was transported from the USA and arrived at the Snapper mine in early November 2010 before being re-assembled and floated in December 2010. The construction of all mine equipment and facilities was completed by the 31 December 2010 and operational commissioning has commenced with the dredge successfully feeding ore to the floating wet concentrator at consistent rates.

Bemax Resources last reported in 2009 that its total resource in the Murray Basin amounted to 95.1Mt of contained heavy mineral. Bemax no longer publishes its resources for individual deposits and regions and the resources for the Murray Basin in 2010 are not known.

Production from Bemax's Ginkgo and Snapper mines in the Murray Basin in 2010 totalled 239 355 tonnes of ilmenite, 32 564 tonnes of zircon, 84 863 tonnes of rutile.

Bemax's heavy mineral sand mining in the southwest region of WA continued at Gwindinup, about 30km south of the company's mineral separation plant at Bunbury. The production at the Wonnerup mine is expected to begin in 2012. Heavy mineral production from Bemax's operations in the southwest region in 2010 amounted to 143 013 tonnes of sulphate and secondary ilmenite and leucoxene and 15 468 tonnes zircon.

The heavy mineral sand mines on North Stradbroke Island, are owned by Sibelco Australia Limited. There has been no published information on the production of heavy minerals or resources of heavy minerals since 2008.

Exxaro Resources Ltd has a 100% shareholding in Australia Sands which has as a principal asset 50% ownership in the Tiwest Joint Venture with Tronox Incorporated. Tiwest operates an integrated titanium dioxide project in WA incorporating a dredging and dry-mining heavy mineral sands operation at Cooljarloo, dry separation and synthetic rutile plants at Chandala and a titanium dioxide pigment plant at Kwinana. Production in 2010 was approximately 462 000 tonnes of ilmenite, 70 000 tonnes of zircon, 36 000 tonnes of rutile, 26 000 tonnes of leucoxene, 180 000 tonnes of synthetic rutile and 114 000 tonnes of TiO2 pigment. In October Tiwest, commissioned a major expansion project at its Kwinana pigment plant, increasing production capacity by 40 000tpa to around 150 000tpa.

Matilda Zircon Ltd recommenced the mining the Tiwi Islands heavy mineral sand deposits in the NT in June 2010 and by October 2010 had completed mining the small high-grade deposit at Leithbridge West. The larger Leithbridge South deposit was developed over the 2010-11 wet season but a fire in June 2011 damaged the concentrator and pre-concentrator which had to be rebuilt resulting in mining of the deposit being delayed until early 2012.

Matilda Zircon also obtained project approvals and extractive industry licences from local shires for its Keysbrook heavy mineral deposit in southwest WA. Construction at Keysbrook is planned for 2012 with mining to start in 2013. The Keysbrook mine is expected to have a mine life of 8 years.

Gunson Resources Ltd released a definitive feasibility study on its Coburn heavy mineral sand deposits south of Geraldton (WA) in January 2010. The study considered a mine life of 23.5 years with annual production rates of 40 000 tonnes of zircon, 90 000 tonnes of ilmenite, 9000 tonnes rutile and 7000 tonnes leucoxene. The company reported that in 2011, the net present value for the project increased substantially to $223.7 million (previously $139 million) as the prices of zircon and titanium dioxide minerals increased rapidly, in some cases to more than double those prevailing in early 2010. Gunson Resources has signed a non-binding agreement with a major East Asian industrial group to provide funding for the project ^{2 3}.

Image Resources NL holds heavy mineral sand resources in North Perth Basin and in Eucla Basin, WA. The company carried out extensive drilling programs in North Perth Basin to upgrade the Indicated Resource of its Atlas deposit to a status of Measured Resources⁴. On 25 August 2011 Image Resources announced to the Australian Securities Exchange that on the basis of positive results from a scoping study of its heavy mineral sand deposits, it had committed to a feasibility study of its deposits in North Perth Basin and had targeted 2014 as a possible date for heavy mineral production⁵.

Image Resources also released a resource figure for its Cyclone Extended deposit in the Eucla Basin amounting to 86.3Mt containing 1.638Mt of heavy minerals at a cut-off of 1% heavy minerals containing 345 000 tonnes zircon, 154 700 tonnes rutile, 617 800 tonnes HiTi (70%-95% TiO2), and 395 700 tonnes altered ilmenite (55%-70% TiO2).

In March 2010, Diatreme Resources Ltd released a scoping study on its Cyclone heavy minerals deposit in the Eucla Basin which indicated potential for a profitable mine producing about 280,000 tonnes of concentrate annually mining ore at a rate of 9 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). In October 2010, the company reported an updated Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource for the deposit amounting to 132.1Mt at 2.33% heavy minerals, containing 3.1Mt heavy minerals. The new resource contains 998 000 tonnes zircon, 388 000 tonnes rutile, 551 000 tonnes HiTi, and 382 000 tonnes altered ilmenite (55-70% TiO2). On 21 June 2011, Diatreme released an updated independent valuation of its Cyclone deposit⁶.

The Cyclone Extended deposit forms a southeast extension of the Cyclone deposit. In September 2010, Image Resources and Diatreme Resources Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in advancing the development of both the Cyclone and Cyclone Extended deposits.

Astron Ltd's Donald project in the Murray Basin in Vic comprises the Donald (WIM 250) and Jackson (WIM 200) deposits located 240km west-north-west of Melbourne. On 1 December 2011 the company announced Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource for the deposits totalling 2630Mt grading at 5.3% heavy minerals. The heavy mineral concentrate was reported to grade at 19% zircon, 33% ilmenite, 7% rutile and 12% leucoxene. Astron reported that the zircon content amounted to about 37Mt. These resources are located within a larger resource totalling Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources at 4040Mt grading at 4.8% heavy minerals⁷.

In July 2010 Astron Ltd announced that a Probable Reserve within the Donald project amounted to 305Mt at 6.3% heavy minerals, which equates to 19.215Mt of heavy minerals at 19% zircon, 32% ilmenite, 19% leucoxene and 4.4% rutile. The project is planned to be a 7.5Mtpa mining operation, producing 500 000tpa of heavy mineral concentrate for export to China.

On 25 October 2011, Sheffield Resources Ltd announced Indicated and Inferred Resources for its Ellengail Project totalling 118.25Mt grading at 2.4% heavy minerals amounting to 2.8Mt of heavy minerals⁸. The heavy mineral concentrate is estimated to grade at 10.5% zircon, 7.6% rutile, 6.9% leucoxene and 62.6% ilmenite. The heavy mineral deposits of the project are located in the Eneabba region north of Perth, WA and include the Ellengail and Yandanooka deposits.

Metallica Minerals Limited's wholly-owned subsidiary, Oresome Australia Pty Ltd, reported that it has commenced the permitting and statutory approval process for its Urquhart Point heavy mineral sands project in Cape York, Qld, with the release of the draft terms of reference for the project's environmental impact study, together with its initial advice statement. The Urquhart Point project is approximately 5km southwest of the Weipa Township on the Gulf of Carpentaria. The zircon and rutile deposit has an Indicated Resource of 2.8Mt at 7% heavy mineral sands to a maximum depth of three metres.

1. Iluka Resources Ltd 2011. Iluka Review 2010. 48 pp.
2. Gunson Resources Ltd, 2011. Significant developments – Coburn zircon project. Australian Securities Exchange release, 23 November, 2011. 3 pp.
3. Gunson Resources Ltd. 2011. Annual Report 2011. 64 pp.
4. Image Resources NL, 2010. Atlas Measured Resource overall grade increases from 6.3%HM to 7.4%HM. Australian Securities Exchange release, 27 October, 2011. 5 pp.
5. Image Resources NL, 2011. Feasibility study to commence. Australian Securities Exchange release, 25 August 2011. 8 pp.
6. Diatreme Resources Ltd. 2011. Updated independent technical review and valuation of the Cyclone deposit – Eucla Basin. Australian Securities Exchange release, 21 June 2011. 29 pp.
7. Astron Ltd. 2011. Donald mineral sands project – resource update. Australian Securities Exchange release 1 December 2011. 3 pp.
8. Sheffield Resources Ltd. 2011. 1Mt contained HM inferred resource at Ellengail. Australian Securities Exchange release, 25 October 2011. 11 pp.