Recovery and processing of zircon from Murray Basin mineral sand deposits

Abstract

Mineral sand deposits in the Murray Basin offer the potential for significantly expanding Australia's production of ilmenite, rutile and zircon. Since prices of zircon and rutile are higher than ilmenite, and zircon grades in most deposits are significantly higher than those for rutile, zircon often is the major economic mineral component in mineral sand deposits. Two types of deposits occur in the Murray Basin. They comprise strandline deposits, in which the particle size of the heavy minerals is similar to that in other Australian deposits, and fine grained, sheet-like, WIM style, deposits. While production from several strandline deposits has commenced, the fine grained deposits, which contain significantly greater amounts of mineralisation, are still to be developed. Problems with processing the finer particle size of the mineralisation, its variable mineralogy, higher surface and lattice impurity levels, in particular uranium and thorium in zircon grains, have contributed to this. Overcoming these problems is necessary to obtain the full commercial value from the Murray Basin deposits. Processing to recover a fine grained zircon concentrate from the extensive WIM style deposits and the removal of impurities in the concentrate are discussed in this paper. In particular, treatments to remove surface and lattice impurities, and to lower uranium and thorium levels by an acid leach and with heat and leach treatments, are reviewed. The conditions used in the heating treatment (e.g. temperature and nature of any fluxes added) affect the impurity removal and whether zirconia (ZrO2) or zircon (ZrSiO4) is obtained as the product.

A characteristic study of popay zircon sand used for ceramics, refractory and foundry raw materials

“…To fulfill such a requirement, the zircon sand needs to be improved by separating the ZrO 2 from its impurities using magnetic separator and tabling. No radioactive minerals detected by XRF instrument (Pownceby et al, 2015).…”

Global distribution, genesis, exploitation, applications, production, and demand of industrial heavy minerals

“…In the dry mill, valuable minerals are separated from non-valuable minerals (mostly quartz) using physical properties (Table 1 ). In addition, Pownceby et al ( 2015 ) demonstrated the use of flotation for HM separation, and Freeman and Sparrow ( 1999 ) suggested ultra-sonic techniques to replace high-intensity magnetic separation. The processing of HM sands uses comparatively fewer chemicals such as floatation aids and is thus more environmentally friendly than other mineral industries (Gilman 2008 ).…”

Deciphering the Complex Mineralogy of River Sand Deposits through Clustering and Quantification of Hyperspectral X-Ray Maps

“…≤100 ppm. Zircon concentrates extracted from the Tista River should therefore have equivalent or lower radiogenic content than those from beach sand deposits that are conventionally mined for zircons, such as the Cox's Bazar region in Bangladesh (100-500 ppm Th, ∼100 ppm U in Zaman et al 2016) or the Murray Basin deposit in Australia (∼500 ppm Th, 500 ppm U, in Pownceby et al 2015).…”