australia's identified mineral resources 2004 - Geoscience Australia

AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2004
Industry Developments
GEMCO has been mining manganese on Groote Eylandt since 1964. The company uses open-pit
strip mining methods at the Groote Eylandt deposit. Mined ore is beneficiated then transported to
Milner Bay for stockpiling before being loaded onto ships.
The current Woodie Woodie project, which commenced in May 1999, utilises conventional open-pit
mining methods from multiple pits to achieve consistent product grades. Mined ore is fed into a
beneficiating plant that produces a lump and fine product which is trucked 400 km by 90 t road
trains to Port Hedland for overseas shipment. During 2003, Consolidated Minerals developed an
optimised long term mining plan for the Woodie Woodie operation that ensures a 10 year mine life.
HiTec Energy Ltd is proposing to produce electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) in the Kalgoorlie
region. In 2003 HiTec purchased the solvent extraction plant and electrowinning cell house at
the Cawse nickel operation for $3.5 million. This purchase reduced the initial capital expenditure,
the operating costs and the market risk profile of the project compared to operating a plant at either
Geraldton or Port Hedland. HiTec is now proposing to create a Stage 1, $52 million, 12 500 tpa
project utilising Woodie Woodie tailings and waste manganese from the Kalgoorlie region.
Completion of the feasibility study is expected in early 2004. In November 2003, HiTec was granted
a Commonwealth Government R&D Start Grant of $357 000 to pursue further R&D work directed
at commercialising HiTec’s solvent extraction process.
Mineral Sands
The principal components of mineral sands are the titanium minerals, rutile and ilmenite, and zircon.
Rutile and ilmenite are mainly used in the production of titanium dioxide pigment with a small
portion, less than 4% of total titanium mineral production, typically rutile, used in making titanium
sponge metal. Zircon is used as an opacifier for glazes on ceramic tiles, in refractories and for
foundry industry.
Resources
The EDR of ilmenite increased 5.3% to 208.8 Mt in 2003, from 198.2 Mt in 2002.
Australia’s largest holding of ilmenite EDR (63%) is in Western Australia. With new resources identified
in the Southern Swan Coastal Plain, south of Perth, total resources in WA increased by 4%, despite
decreases due to mine production in the Northern Swan Coastal Plain and Scott Coastal Plain areas.
In Queensland, the second largest holding (25%), ilmenite resources decreased slightly due to mine
production.
Successful exploration in the Murray Basin by Iluka Resources Ltd, BeMax Resources NL and
Southern Titanium NL resulted in ilmenite resources increasing in Victoria by 21%, in New South
Wales by 27%, and in South Australia by 32%. As a consequence, Victoria has 6% of the total ilmenite
EDR and New South Wales about 5%.
The EDR of rutile (which includes leucoxene in Western Australia) declined by 9.4% from 23.5 Mt
in 2002 to 21.3 Mt in 2003. The bulk of the decrease was in WA, where the combined rutile and
leucoxene resources decreased by 32%. The decrease occurred on both the Northern Swan and
Southern Swan Coastal Plains. In Queensland, rutile resources fell slightly due to mining loss. Despite
these declines, Queensland and Western Australia together hold 64% of Australia’s EDR of rutile.
47
Rutile resources in the Murray Basin of Victoria and New South Wales increased by 19% and 9%,
respectively and declined by 35% in South Australia.
In the South Australian and New South Wales portion of the Murray Basin, 2.026 Mt of leucoxene
resources were classified as EDR in 2003. The leucoxene resources of the Victorian part of the
Murray Basin were included with the rutile resources.