The history of mineral sands in the Murray Basin ‘Is it a new mineral sand frontier - or just more of the same?’

Mason, A. J.

doi:10.1080/03717453.2015.1116485

Cited by 2 publications

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References 2 publications

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“…Within months RZM recognised the Birthday Gift, Jacks Tank, Wemen, Cylinder and other smaller strand line systems. These strand lines were coarse grained and easy to process using currently available technology and were also generally high in zircon, all of which led to a rapid development decision (Mason, Teakle and Blampain 1998).…”

Section: Rzm/murray Basin Titaniummentioning

confidence: 99%

The history of mineral sands in the Murray Basin ‘Is it a new mineral sand frontier - or just more of the same?’

Mason¹

2016

Applied Earth Science

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The Murray Basin is one of the major mineral sand production areas in Australia. Exploration for mineral sands commenced in 1970, following the discovery of strandlines in a quarry near Kerang. The first significant mineral sand discovery was made by CRA Exploration in 1982 at WIM150 near Horsham, a very fine-grained offshore deposit. While this was the catalyst for exploration in the Murray Basin, it was not considered to be economic at the time and there was a further wait until 1996 when the first true economic strandline deposits were discovered. Mining in the Murray Basin commenced in 2000 and the development since then has continued to expand and extend the importance of the Murray Basin for current and future production of mineral sand products for the world market.

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Section: Rzm/murray Basin Titaniummentioning

confidence: 99%

The history of mineral sands in the Murray Basin ‘Is it a new mineral sand frontier - or just more of the same?’

Mason¹

2016

Applied Earth Science

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“…The authors illustrate the potential economic benefit that the production of rare earth elements could have to the Australian economy. Mason (2016) presents a summary of the exploration history of mineral sands within the Murray Basin, Australia. This basin extends across three states (South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales) and is host to strandline and WIM-style (formed in an off-shore environment) deposits.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mineral sands

Standing¹

2016

Applied Earth Science

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Mineral sandsApplied Earth Science provides an opportunity for geoscientists working in the minerals industry to share their knowledge. In particular, the journal is publishing special issues devoted to the different aspects of modern applied exploration and mining geology. This journal has previously published special issues devoted to the technical characterisation of iron ore deposits (Appl. Earth Sci. 119 (1) (3) 2010), nickel sulphide deposits (Appl. Earth Sci. 120 (4) 2011) and sandstone hosted uranium mineralisation (Appl. Earth Sci. 121 (2) 2012) and mineral resource estimation for a range of commodities (Appl. Earth Sci. 123 (2) 2014).This latest special issue is devoted to mineral sands deposits and the extraction of valuable heavy minerals (mainly ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene and zircon). The mineral sand deposits fall into three main deposit styles, palaeo-marine placers, aeolian (dunal) sands and alluvial deposits. Analogues from present day geomorphological processes are used to understand the processes and depositional environments for the concentration of heavy minerals and deposit formation. The main challenges for the exploration and mining of the mineral sands are that:. Mineral sands deposits comprise non-consolidated to semi-consolidated sands hosting valuable heavy minerals that are unevenly distributed in a matrix of mainly gangue quartz. The heavy minerals have high average densities (of over 4.0 g cm −3 ) and are significantly heavier than the sand matrix (density 2.6 g cm −3 ). The large difference in the mineral densities can result in segregation of the heavy minerals during drilling and sample collection causing a biased composition of the recovered samples. . The presence of hard pan lenses, concretions and clay beds, hosted within non-consolidated sediments, which can hamper the application of dredging technologies for mining the mineral sands deposits. . The product costs depend on the mineralogy of the heavy fraction and so the mineral composition of the heavy fraction needs to be accurately estimated into the Ore Reserve model.

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The history of mineral sands in the Murray Basin ‘Is it a new mineral sand frontier - or just more of the same?’

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

The history of mineral sands in the Murray Basin ‘Is it a new mineral sand frontier - or just more of the same?’

The history of mineral sands in the Murray Basin ‘Is it a new mineral sand frontier - or just more of the same?’

Mineral sands

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