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) and zircon (ZrSiO4). Rutile and ilmenite are used principally in the production of titanium dioxide pigment. 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 foundry industry. Recently there has been some interest in monazite as a source of thorium for possible use in thorium nuclear reactors for electricity generation.

EDR of ilmenite increased by 1.3% to 221.4 Mt in 2007, up from 218.5 Mt in 2006.

About 56% of Australia's EDR of ilmenite is in WA and 22% is in QLD with the remainder in Vic (11.3%), NSW (7.4%) and SA (2.8%).

EDR of rutile, which includes some leucoxene in WA, increased by 6.5% from 21.7 Mt in 2006 to 23.1 Mt in 2007. Victoria has the largest share of Australia's rutile EDR with 33.2% followed by QLD (25.3%), NSW (20%), WA (18.2%) and SA (3%).

EDR of zircon increased by 15% from 33.9 Mt in 2006 to 39 Mt in 2007 with WA (31.1%), Vic (23.2%) and QLD (21.5%) accounting for most of Australia's zircon EDR. The balance was is SA (14.4%), NSW (9.6%).

Australia's subeconomic demonstrated resources of ilmenite, rutile and zircon in 2007 amounted to 35.4 Mt of ilmenite, which was a reduction of 27.7% on 2006, 9.7 Mt of rutile, a decrease of 29.7% on the previous year, and 14.8 Mt of zircon, a decrease of 29.5% on 2006.

Inferred resources of ilmenite increased by 2 Mt in 2007 to 128 Mt. Victoria has the largest proportion of inferred ilmenite resources with 42.4% of the Australian total followed by NSW (23.9%), WA (14.3%) and QLD (13.6%).

Inferred resources of rutile increased to 31 Mt from 28 Mt in 2006. Victoria has the largest share of Australia's inferred rutile resources with 47.7% of the Australian total followed by NSW (36.1%) SA (7.3%), QLD (5.2%) and WA (3.7%).

Inferred resources of zircon increased to 35.7 Mt from 30 Mt in 2006. Victoria is the main holder of zircon inferred resources with 48.1% of the Australian total, followed by NSW (20.3%), QLD (16.2%) and WA (9.1%).

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 some 16% of ilmenite, 25% of rutile and 21% 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.

Approximately 25% of ilmenite, 30% rutile and 29% zircon of accessible EDR (AEDR) comprise JORC Code reserve. The remaining AEDR represents resources assessed by Geoscience Australia from the measured and indicated categories of industry reported mineral resources as defined under the Code and other classification systems used by companies not listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

At Australia's 2007 rate of production, AEDR of ilmenite, rutile and zircon is sufficient for an average of 80, 56 and 51 years respectively. However, resources in the JORC Code reserves categories are adequate for only 20 years for ilmenite, 17 years for rutile, and 15 years for zircon.

According to quarterly ABS figures, expenditure on exploration for mineral sands in 2007 was estimated at $36.5 million compared with $31.3 million in 2006.

In 2007, Australia produced 2.3 Mt of ilmenite, 312,000 t of rutile, 170,000 t of leucoxene and 601,000 t of zircon compared with 2.4 Mt of ilmenite, 232,000 t of rutile, 133,000 t of leucoxene and 492,000 t of zircon in 2006. About 875,000 t of ilmenite was exported during 2007 while rutile (345,000 t) and zircon (610,000 t) exceeded the level of production for the two commodities. The ilmenite not exported was upgraded to synthetic rutile containing about 92-94% TiO2. In 2007, Australia produced 726,000 t of synthetic rutile compared with 703,000 t in 2006.

According to Geoscience Australia and USGS data, Australia has the world's largest EDR of rutile and zircon with 50%, and 47%, respectively and has the second largest share of the world's ilmenite with 17%, behind China, which has 30%. Other major country rankings include India (13%), South Africa (9%) and Brazil (6%) for ilmenite; South Africa (18%) and India (16%) for rutile; and South Africa (26%) and Ukraine (7%) for zircon.

In 2007, world production of ilmenite increased by 10% to 10.4 Mt, rutile increased by 18% to 600,000 t, and zircon increased by 39% to 1,290,000 t. Australia is the largest producer of rutile with about 53% of the world production followed by South Africa with 20% and Sierra Leone with 14%. Australia is the largest producer of ilmenite also with 22% followed by South Africa with 19% and is the largest producer of zircon with 47% followed by South Africa at 31%.

Companies which produced heavy mineral sands during 2007 were Iluka Resources Ltd, BeMax Resources Ltd, TiWest joint venture and Doral Mineral Sands Pty Ltd, all in WA and Consolidated Rutile Ltd in QLD. Iluka and Bemax also produced heavy minerals in the Murray Basin in Vic and NSW respectively while production continued at Matilda Minerals Andranangoo deposit on the Tiwi Islands off the NT. Production also commenced from the Mindarie heavy minerals project, held by Australian Zircon NL, in SA and production of ilmenite was started at the Goondicum alluvial/eluvial deposit near Monto in QLD.

Iluka Resources Ltd heavy mineral sand operations in WA are located in two regions. The 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 Narngulu facility at Geraldton includes mineral separation, zircon finishing and synthetic rutile plants as well as port operations and storage facilities at Geraldton. Iluka is planning to process the heavy mineral concentrates from the development of its Jacinth-Ambrosia deposits in the Eucla Basin at the Narngulu plant.

Iluka's south west region, south of Perth, is based on mines at Waroona and Wagerup (wet concentrator and mining unit at each site). The commencement of the Cloverdale and Waroona mines has continued the transition of Iluka's south west mining region to more prominent ilmenite and synthetic rutile production region.

The production of heavy mineral sand commodities from Iluka's mining and processing activities in WA amounted to 77,100 t rutile, 526,600 t synthetic rutile, 1,234,300 t ilmenite and 244,500 t zircon.

Iluka Resources Ltd's Douglas project in Vic is based on the resources of three main deposits, Bondi Main, Bondi West and Bondi East. The infrastructure includes a single mining unit plant, a wet concentrator plant and a mineral separation plant located at Hamilton to produce the final specification rutile and zircon. Iluka successfully completed the commissioning and ramp up of its Hamilton mineral separation plant during 2007. Combined rutile and zircon production of 187,000 t in 2007 was above the company's initial forecast. In addition to rutile and zircon, an initial shipment of tin pre-concentrate (a by-product of the heavy minerals processing) took place in the final quarter of 2007. The ilmenite production is currently being returned to the mine. Production from the Douglas mine in 2007 totalled 59,300 t rutile, 2,300 t leucoxene and 128,300 t zircon.

In addition to the Douglas project, the company has a group of deposits at Ouyen in north west Vic with two thirds of the company's heavy mineral resources in Murray Basin at Kulwin, Woornack, Rownack, Rainlover, and Pirro with another group at Euston in NSW named Castaway, Kerribee, Earl, Dispersion and Koolaman. Iluka has announced plans to commence mining at Kulwin with first production in the first Quarter of 2009. The company is then planning to move to Woornack, Rownack and Pirro in late 2009/2010 with mining and processing operations coming on stream during 2009 to 2014.

In the Eucla Basin, Iluka holds the Jacinth-Ambrosia and Gulliver's deposits and has a joint venture agreement with Adelaide Resources Ltd over the Tripitaka deposit in SA. The company completed a definitive feasibility study for the Jacinth-Ambrosia project in the first half of 2008 that envisages utilisation of spare processing capacity at Narngulu, near Geraldton in WA. A wet concentrator is to be relocated from Georgia in the US to the mine site at Jacinth-Ambrosia. The first product is expected to be available for sale in the second half of 2010.

Continuing exploration by the company in 2007 also led to the discoveries of heavy mineral deposits, including the Nepean and Minsk deposits in the NSW portion of Murray Basin and the Dromedary and Typhoon deposits in the Eucla Basin.

To the end of 2007, Consolidated Rutile Ltd's operations at the Yarraman and Enterprise mines on North Stradbroke Island produced 79,545 t rutile, 60,561 t zircon and 174,413 t ilmenite. The company reported an increased ore throughput of 13% compared to 2006 achieving 55.4 Mt from both mine sites.

The TiWest Joint Venture (Exxaro Australia Pty Ltd 50%, Tronox Incorporated 50%) 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 2007 was approximately 432,000 t of ilmenite, 72,000 t of zircon, 34,000 t of rutile, 32,000 t of leucoxene, 200,000 t of synthetic rutile and 108,000 t of TiO2 pigment.

The heavy mineral resources/reserves controlled by Bemax are located in old shorelines in two geological/geographic provinces - the Murray Basin of Vic and NSW, and the south west region of WA.

BeMax Resources NL reported that it has upgraded its resource base in the Murray Basin from 85.2 Mt of contained heavy minerals at 31 October 2006 to 86.5 Mt at 31 October 2007. This increase was achieved despite resource depletion associated with mining at Ginkgo in part due to the discovery of the new Atlas deposit in NSW and extensions to the North Kulwin deposit in Vic, both of which increased the resource base by 2.3 Mt heavy minerals.

Bemax reported that the both the Ginkgo mine and the Broken Hill mineral separation plant achieved production at design capacity during 2007. Environmental and development approvals were granted by the NSW Government in the second half of 2007 to enable Bemax to expand its operations in the northern Murray Basin and process up to 650,000 t of heavy mineral concentrate per year.

The company is advancing its final process design also for the Snapper Mine wet concentrator, about 10 km south west of Ginkgo and expects to commission the mine in mid 2009. Bemax's Ginkgo operation production for the first full year in 2007 totalled 207,264 t ilmenite, 27,379 t secondary ilmenite, 55,423 t leucoxene, 57,751 t rutile and 45,068 t zircon.

Bemax's heavy mineral sand mining in south west region of WA was completed at the Tutunup and Ludlow deposits and the new dry mining operation commenced at Gwindinup, reaching full production rates in March 2008. The company's Gwindinup project includes the Gwindinup North and South deposits and the extensions of Happy Valley North and South deposits. The environmental studies for the Happy Valley deposits were completed during the quarter ending December 2007. Heavy mineral production from Bemax's operations in the region amounted to 153,352 t ilmenite, 11,725 t secondary ilmenite, 7,541 t leucoxene and 20,910 t zircon.

On 16 June 2008 the Bemax directors issued a statement unanimously recommending the acceptance of a takeover offer of BeMax Resources Ltd by Cristal Australia Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of The National Titanium Dioxide Company Limited.

Matilda Minerals Ltd continued mining operations at Andranango Creek in the Tiwi Islands off the NT with the first full year of production for 2007 amounting to 24,730 t heavy mineral concentrate containing zircon, rutile, leucoxene and ilmenite. Apart from the Tiwi Islands, the company's heavy mineral sand exploration activities include Broome and Carnarvon in WA and Cape York Peninsula and Surat Basin in QLD. The company also has signed a farm-in and joint venture agreement with Oresome Australia Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Metallica Minerals Limited) which will allow Matilda Minerals Ltd to earn 70% interest in the exploration permit at Urquhart Point, Cape York Peninsula. In May 2008 Matilda Minerals Ltd announced an indicated resource of 2.78 Mt at 7% heavy minerals. The company also has applied for an exploration permit to explore for heavy mineral sands along the eastern margin of the inland region of Surat Basin.

Australian Zircon NL reported that it completed the construction of its Mindarie zircon mine in the western Murray Basin, 148 km east-north-east of Adelaide, SA. The first shipments of products took place in early November 2007.

Australian Zircon NL also is earning an 80% participating interest in its WIM 150 joint venture with Austpac Resources NL. The preliminary results of a prefeasibility study on the WIM 150 zircon and titanium mineral deposit recommended that the first stage of a bankable feasibility study be started. Testwork has shown that conventional feed preparation techniques will successfully recover 85% to 90% of raw feed zircon to an acceptable grade heavy mineral concentrate. Austpac has previously demonstrated that a +95% TiO2 synthetic rutile can be produced from the fine WIM 150 ilmenite, and that the synthetic rutile product can be agglomerated.

Austpac Resources NL started construction of a 3,000 tpa ERMS SR (Enhanced Roasting and Magnetic Separation Synthetic Rutile) synrutile demonstration plant on its site on Koogarang Island near Newcastle in NSW. The purpose of the plant is to produce samples of high grade synrutile and iron pellets for market assessment. Construction of stage 1 of the demonstration plant was completed in early February 2008. Austpac secured 150 t of ilmenite from Consolidated Rutile Ltd North Stradbroke mine in QLD, 500 t from Bemax's Ginkgo mine in NSW and 70 t from BHP Billiton's Corridor Sands deposit in Mozambique. The roasting of these samples is planned for completion by the end of June 2008. Commissioning of stage 2 of the plant will begin in July 2008 and synrutile/iron pellet production will commence in August 2008 and finish in September 2008. Subject to successful results from the demonstration plant, Austpac and BHP Billiton will consider a 60,000 tpa commercial plant.

Monto Minerals reported that production at its Goondicum mine commenced in October 2007 and stockpiles of ilmenite, feldspar, apatite and titanomagnetite were established by the end of 2007. Deliveries to customers began with apatite in October 2007 and ilmenite in January 2008, with feldspar and titanomagnetite (for coal washing for Australian and international markets) to follow later in 2008. Once full production for the initial project is achieved, the company will proceed with planned expansion in 2008/09.

Gunson Resources Ltd signed a second memorandum of understanding with China Triumph International Engineering Co. Ltd (CTIEC which provides for CTIEC's parent, China National Building Material Company (CNBM), and an electric power supply company in the Chinese city of Bengbu to take a combined 40% participating interest in the Coburn zircon project. Gunson is discussing with CTIEC its fixed price turnkey construction proposal for the Coburn project, operating costs and product quality. The company noted in its September 2007 quarterly report that it would be substantially cheaper to build and operate a heavy mineral separation plant in China. In April 2008, Gunson reported that the total JORC compliant indicated and measured resources at Coburn increased to 728 Mt averaging 1.2% heavy minerals.

Image Resources Ltd continued extensive exploration activities in their tenement areas in the north Perth Basin. In May 2008, Image Resources reported indicated and inferred resources for seven deposits totalling 206 Mt, averaging 2.4% heavy minerals containing 6.4 Mt of heavy minerals.

Astron Ltd's Donald project in the Murray Basin in Vic comprises the Donald (WIM 250) and Jackson (WIM 200) heavy mineral sand deposits. In January 2006 the company reported a total indicated and inferred resource of 693 Mt with a heavy mineral content of 5.1%. Contained within this resource is an indicated and inferred resource of 477 Mt at 1.1% zircon, 1.8% ilmenite, 0.3% rutile and 1.1% leucoxene. The project is planned to be a 7.5 Mtpa mining operation, producing 500,000 tpa of heavy mineral concentrate for export to China. The DMS Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Astron Ltd) released an Environmental Effects Statement for the Donald project on 5 February 2008 for review and public comment lasting six weeks.

Olympia Resources NL reported that it had signed an agreement with BeMax Resources NL to treat Olympia's heavy mineral concentrate from the Keysbrook deposit through Bemax's Bunbury dry separation plant. In October 2007 the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority recommended that the Keysbrook project proceed subject to a number of conditions. With the environmental approvals process continuing in the first half of 2008, development of the Keysbrook deposit is not expected before the second half of 2008.

On 11 March 2008, Territory Mineral Sands Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Territory Resources Limited, announced an on market bid for all ordinary shares in Olympia Resources Limited.

During 2006, Territory Mineral Sands Ltd issued a prospectus outlining extensive mining tenements covering heavy mineral deposits and prospective areas for heavy minerals in the Murray Basin in Vic, the Eucla Basin in SA, the Yaringa area in the coastal Gascoyne district of WA and the Inkerman Project made up of mining tenements along the western coast of Cape York Peninsula in QLD. The Murray Basin projects include three deposits, the Wedderburn with indicated and inferred resources of 173.2 Mt at 4.4% heavy minerals containing 14.4% zircon and Graybridge with 47.6 Mt of inferred resources at 3.42% heavy minerals containing 15.19% zircon. During 2007 the company increased the resources at its third deposit, Avonbank/Kalkee in Vic to 360.3 Mt of indicated and inferred resources at 5.8% heavy minerals with 31% ilmenite, 17.6% rutile, 15.8% zircon and 12.9% leucoxene. The company also reported the discovery of the Lefroy heavy mineral prospect located in the Pioneer project tenements in the western Eucla Basin.

In mid 2007, Diatreme Resources Ltd reported the Cyclone and Hurricane heavy mineral sand discoveries in northern Eucla Basin in WA near the SA border. A resource was announced in February 2008 for the Cyclone deposit amounting to 60 Mt at 3.8% heavy minerals with 41% zircon, 3% rutile, 42% leucoxene and 10% ilmenite.