australia's identified mineral resources 2005 - Geoscience Australia

AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2005
JORC Reserves
Approximately 23% of ilmenite, 27% rutile and 26% zircon AEDR comprise JORC Code reserve.
The remaining 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.
Duration of Resources
At Australia’s 2004 rates of production, AEDR of ilmenite, rutile and zircon are sufficient for an
average of 94, 90 and 49 years respectively. Resources in the JORC Code reserves categories,
however, are adequate for only 22 years for ilmenite, 24 years for rutile, and 13 years for zircon.
Exploration
According to quarterly ABS figures, expenditure on exploration for mineral sands in 2004 was
estimated at $24.7 million (compared with $26.3 million in 2003). This represents a decrease of
about 6% over the previous year.
Production
In 2004, Australia produced 1.93 Mt of ilmenite, 162 000 t of rutile, 44 000 t of leucoxene and 441 000 t
of zircon (compared with 2.01 Mt of ilmenite, 173 000 t of rutile, 58 000 t of leucoxene and 462 000 t
of zircon in 2003). The bulk of Australia’s rutile and zircon production is exported compared to about
39% for ilmenite. The remaining ilmenite is upgraded to synthetic rutile containing about 92–94%
TiO 2 . In 2004, Australia produced 720 000 t of synthetic rutile (compared with 666 000 t in 2003).
World Ranking
According to Geoscience Australia and USGS data, Australia has the world’s largest EDR of rutile and
zircon with 39%, and 41%, respectively and has the second largest share of ilmenite at 20% behind
China (35%). Other major country rankings include India (15%), South Africa (11%) and Norway
(10%) for ilmenite; South Africa (15%) and India (14%) for rutile; and South Africa (29%) and Ukraine
(8%) for zircon.
In 2004, world production of ilmenite increased by 11% to 8.97 Mt, rutile decreased by 4.8 % to
400 kt, and zircon increased by 20% to 1 070 kt. Australia is the largest producer of rutile with about
41% of the world production followed by South Africa with 38% and Ukraine with 17%. It is the
second largest producer of ilmenite with 22% after South Africa with 24% of the world’s production
and also the second largest producer of zircon with 41% after South Africa with 43%.
Industry Developments
In 2004, Australia produced 1.93 Mt of ilmenite, 162 000 t of rutile, 44 000 t of leucoxene and 441 000 t
of zircon. Companies that produced heavy mineral sands during 2004 were Iluka Resources Ltd,
BeMax Resources Ltd, TiWest joint venture, and Doral Mineral Sands Pty Ltd all in Western Australia
and Consolidated Rutile Ltd (Queensland). Potential greenfields mineral sands project include BeMax
Resources Ltd’s Pooncarrie mineral sands project in New South Wales, Iluka’s Douglas project in
Victoria, Australia Zircon NL’s Mindarie project in South Australia and the Coburn project of Gunson
Resources Ltd in Western Australia.
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Iluka Resources Ltd operated open-pit mines at Eneabba and Capel and two synthetic rutile plants
and a zircon finishing plant at Geraldton (WA). 2004 production was 66 507 t of rutile, 496 000 t of
synthetic rutile, 982 000 t of ilmenite, 283 000 t of zircon, and 12 271 t of the proprietary product
Hiti91. The company is the second-biggest titanium dioxide feedstock producer in the world behind
Rio Tinto, and is the largest zircon producer. Rutile and zircon production declined in response to
lower grades being mined at Eneabba during the year and the mining of remnants at Capel during
the first half of the year. Improvements to synthetic rutile kiln utilisation and throughput levels at
north-Capel led to record level of production of synthetic rutile. During the period under review,