Production situation of zirconite mountains in Australia in 2023

Australia is the world's leading supplier of zirconium-titanium ore, producing about half of the world's zircon sand and large amounts of titanium minerals every year. China is the world's largest consumer of zirconium and titanium, consuming about half of the world's zircon sand and titanium minerals every year. Below we will introduce the latest situation of zirconium and titanium mines or projects under production and construction in Australia since the beginning of 2023.

1. In a zirconium-titanium mine

O Luca (Iluka Resources)

Iluka Resources, the Jacinth-Ambrosia (JA) mine in Yukla Basin, South Australia, is currently the largest zircon sand mine in the world. According to its latest announcement, the mine produced 156800 tons of zircon sand, 51900 tons of zirconium ore, 19700 tons of rutile and 82800 tons of ilmenite in the first three quarters of 2023. The average selected grade of raw ore is 3.8% (4.2% in 2022). According to the release of reserves and production reports, it is estimated that the life of the mine will be up to 2027.

The Cataby mine in Western Australia produced 27900 tons of zircon sand, 5300 tons of zirconium ore, 21400 tons of rutile and 342600 tons of ilmenite in the first three quarters of 2023. The average selected grade of the raw ore is 5.2%. According to the company's reserves and production announcement, the life of the mine is estimated to 2027.

Jacinth-Ambrosia (JA) mine

Cataby mine

Tronox

The Cooljaloo mine, located in Western Australia, is designed to produce about 770000 tons of heavy minerals per year, mainly titanium minerals, with an average heavy mineral grade of 1.8%. The mine life is estimated to be up to 2029. The Atlas/Campaspe mine, located in southern New South Wales, was put into production in 2022 to replace the closed Snapper/Ginkgo/Crayfish mine, with reserves of 88 million tons, average heavy mineral grade of 6.5%, zircon sand accounting for about 12%, annual treatment of raw ore of 7.2 million tons, annual production of about 450000 tons, estimated zircon sand production of about 30, 000 tons, mine life of 12 years, can be mined until 2034 The Wonnerup mine, located in Western Australia, has a designed annual capacity of 2.8 million tons, produces about 140000 tons of heavy minerals, reserves of 22 million tons, and an average heavy mineral grade of 5.2%. It contains 74% ilmenite, 15% ilmenite and 10% zircon sand, and the life of the mine is expected to reach 2026.

Cooljaloo Mine, 170km north of Perth, Western Australia

Imej Resources (Image Resources) & nbsp

Boonanarring/Atlas Mine, in the first three quarters of 2023, the Boonanarring mine produced about 106800 tons of heavy minerals. The mining of the mine ended in the third quarter of 2023 and will be replaced by the Atlas mine in 2024. The reserves of the Atlas mine are 5.5 million tons, with an average heavy mineral grade of 9.2%. The Atlas mine is currently awaiting final approval and is expected to produce 221000 tons of heavy minerals per year, with a mining life of about 2.1 years and a mine life of about 2026.

Boonanarring/Atla Mine, Boonanarring is located in the orange area in the south, Atlas is in the purple area in the north

Australian Titanium Resources (AIR)

The Roper mine, located in the Northern Territory, currently produces about 60,000 to 80,000 ilmenite concentrate per year, the orebody is located on the surface, the stripping ratio is 0, the mining cost is low, and the average heavy mineral grade is about 7%. According to the current mining rate, the life of the mine is expected to exceed 50 years.

Dora ore (Doral Mineral Sands)

The Yalyalup mine, located in Western Australia, which belongs to Iwatani Industry Co., Ltd., Japan, was put into production in 2022. It plans to produce 100000 tons of heavy minerals per year within five years, including a small amount of zircon sand, and the life of the mine is about 2027; the Keysbrook mine in Western Australia has a designed output of 110000 tons of heavy minerals, with an average heavy mineral grade of about 2%. The main product is dolomite, and the mine life is expected to reach 2025.

Stellan Resources (Strandline Resources)

Coburn in Western Australia The mine, with JORC reserves of 523 million tons and an average heavy mineral grade of 1.11%, will be put into production by the end of 2022 with a total investment of about A $340 million. It is planned to process 3000 tons of raw ore per hour and produce about 240000 tons of heavy minerals per year. At present, the project is still in the climbing stage of production. In the third quarter of 2023, a total of 30949 tons of heavy minerals were produced, with an average grade of 1.05%. It is estimated that the production rate is only about 50% of the original plan, and the company's shares were suspended on October 27th, 2023. According to Stellan Resources' latest announcement on November 23, 2023, the company produced 4544 tons of heavy minerals in October (well below its plan to produce 20, 000 tons a month), and there has been a significant change of management. Due to the low grade of raw ore in this project, it is difficult to predict the profit of the mine.

Sheffield Resources (Sheffield Resources)

The Thunderbird mine, located on the Dampier Peninsula in northern Western Australia, has 748 million tons of JORC reserves and an average heavy mineral grade of 11.0%. With a total investment of A $480 million, it is planned to handle 10.4 million tons of raw ore per year and the life of the mine is 36 years. According to the company announcement, the mine has begun commissioning and plans to deliver the first ship of products in the first quarter of 2024. In 2024, it is planned to produce 519000 tons of magnetic minerals (mainly titanium hematite), 138000 tons of zircon and 28000 tons of paramagnetic concentrate.

Mingrui Zirconium Industry (Murry Zircon)

The Mindarie Mine, a subsidiary of China Oriental Zirconium Industry Co., Ltd., located in South Australia, ceased operations after the mining of the Mindarie C orebody in April 2015, and the company's website shows that mining and operations are currently in the process of resuming (starting mining operations from the Mercunda deposit). According to the information provided on the website of the Ministry of Mines of South Australia, the Mercunda vein of Mingrui Zirconium Industry has been approved by the South Australian government for environmental protection and reclamation (Program for Environment) on March 21, 2023. Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR for short), which means that the mining of the Mercunda deposit can begin. PEPR documents show that the concentrator is designed to have a capacity of 750t / h and is expected to be replaced by two veins on the south side, Lone Pine and Long Tan, when the Mercunda mining is completed. Recently, the media have shown that the mining operation of the Mercunda deposit has begun, and the installation of the mining mixer and primary plant of the project has been completed and the heavy minerals have been successfully produced.

Mingrui Zirconium Industry restarts Mining of Mercunda Deposit and production of heavy Minerals

two。 Zirconium and titanium mines are under construction

As one of the "troika" in the zirconium and titanium industry, Iluka Resources & nbsp; is promoting the construction and production of two zirconium and titanium mines at the same time. The Balranald mine in southern New South Wales The resource volume is 45.5 million tons, and the average grade of heavy minerals is as high as 31.6%. However, due to the large buried depth (more than 60 meters), the company is unable to adopt the traditional open-pit mining method. The company will adopt an innovative drilling method to extract the raw ore from the ground for processing. After reaching production, it will produce 55000 tons of zircon sand, 60, 000 tons of rutile and 4, 000 tons of rare earth concentrate. The mine life is 9.5 years, and it is scheduled to be put into production in 2025. The Eneabba mine, located in Western Australia, has a total reserve of about 1 million tons from tailings from the Western Australia Concentrator, of which monazite accounts for about 20% and zircon accounts for about 26%. It is planned to mine about 100000 tons of minerals every year. The project produced a small amount of medium ore in 2021, but not in 2022. After resumption of production, the project will supply about 20,000 tons of zircon sand. The life of the mine is estimated to be 8 years, and production is expected to start in 2025. With financial support from key Australian government mineral (rare earth) projects (with an unrecoverable loan of approximately A $1.25 billion), OLuca is actively promoting the construction of Eneabba's rare earth separation plant, which aims to produce 4000 tons of praseodymium oxide and 750 tons of terbium and dysprosium oxide each year to diversify and transform the company's business, and to take advantage of the advantages of heavy rare earths to overtake in the rare earth supply chain.

Balranald Mine and Eneabba Mine under Construction in O Luca

Summary

To sum up, there are 12 zirconium and titanium mines currently in production / commissioning in Australia. It is estimated that 6-7 of them will be exhausted by 2026-2027, and the grade of other mines will continue to decline. At that time, the output of zircon sand will reach more than 360000 tons. At present, there are only two mines under construction, and the annual increase in supply is only about 75000 tons after reaching production, which will provide a good market space for the start-up of other new mines.