australia's identified mineral resources 2005 - Geoscience Australia

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AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2005 The annual production for 2004 from the Murrin Murrin lateritic nickel plant operated by Minara Resources Limited amounted to 28 518 t of nickel and 1 975 t of cobalt. A record production of 8 163 t nickel and 579 t cobalt was reported for the first quarter of 2005. Minara also entered into agreement with WMC Resources Ltd to process nickel oxide overburden material from the WMR Leinster mining operation. The arrangement was made to enhance the nickel feed grade at the Murrin Murrin Plant. Niobium Niobium is used in alloys by steel and aerospace industries and niobium-titanium alloy wire is utilised in the medical sector in magnetic resonance imaging. In Australian, niobium is only recovered as by-product of tantalum mining at the Greenbushes mine (WA). Resources Niobium EDR remained unchanged at 194 kt in 2004. Most EDR of niobium is in the Greenbushes pegmatite deposit with minor resources in New South Wales. Exploration Data relating to exploration for niobium are not available. Production A total of 240 t of niobium in export tantalum products was produced from the Greenbushes deposit in Western Australian. World Ranking World EDR is estimated at 4.4 Mt of which Brazil has 4.3 Mt. Australia has the second largest EDR with 0.2 Mt followed by Canada with 0.1 Mt. World production in 2004 from USGS data is 32 800 t Nb of which 29 000 t came from Brazil. Canada produced an estimated 3 300 t. Industry Developments No major developments were reported in 2004. Phosphate Phosphate rock is the major resource mined to produce phosphate fertilisers, which are needed for cropping, pasture and horticulture production. Phosphorous is also used in animal feed supplements, food preservatives, anti-corrosion agents, cosmetics, fungicides, ceramics, water treatment and metallurgy. The characteristic minerals in phosphate rock are members of the apatite group (Ca 5 (PO 4 , ± CO 3 , ± OH) 3 (OH,F,Cl). 60 Australia’s commercial resources of phosphate are in Queensland (Phosphate Hill, 135 km SSE of Mt Isa) and on the Indian Ocean Territory of Christmas Island. Phosphate Hill is a world-class rock phosphate resource that is close to surface and easy to access and mine. The rock is ideal for the manufacture of high analysis fertilisers for domestic and international use. The first di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser utilising Phosphate Hill ore was produced in late 1999. Christmas Island is a source of quality rock phosphate, which is exported to the Asia–Pacific and southeast Asian region. Christmas Island rock phosphate products are used widely in the palm oil sector of this region, and sales of higher-grade rock phosphate are made to Australian manufacturers of mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP) fertiliser. DAP and MAP have different ratios of phosphorous and nitrogen, and have slightly different applications. Both products are generally produced as granules with a diameter of between 2–4 mm.
AUSTRALIA’S IDENTIFIED MINERAL RESOURCES 2005 DAP (20% P and 18% N) is used on broad-acre crops such as cereal, legume, fodder, horticultural and row crops, and dairy and newly-established pastures. MAP (22% P and 10% N) assists with early crop growth and enhances phosphorous uptake in broad-acre crops. Resources EDR of phosphate rock decreased by 5% in 2004 compared to the previous year. All EDR is sedimentary phosphate rock (phosphorites), with an average grade of about 24% P 2 O 5 at Phosphate Hill. The decrease resulted from production depletion and exclusion of small zones at the peripheries of the Phosphate Hill deposit, which are no longer regard as practical to mine. There is no publicly available information on Christmas Island’s phosphate resources. Geoscience Australia, however, has reasonably detailed knowledge of this deposit and known resources remaining within the existing mining lease on the island. Most of Australia’s demonstrated resources of phosphate occur in the Georgina Basin and are classified as paramarginal. Two deposits, Swan and Emu, occur within carbonatite at Mount Weld, 26 km southeast of Laverton (WA), where a phosphate-rich zone has formed by the solution and weathering of a primary carbonatite. The bulk of Australia’s inferred phosphate resources are in phosphorites in the Georgina Basin, and these are distributed between Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Exploration Data relating to exploration for phosphate are not available. Production Australia produced 2 039 kt of fertiliser in 2004 (649 kt DAP and 1 390 kt MAP). DAP came from rock phosphate ore treated at WMC Resources’ Queensland Fertiliser Operations (QFO) at Phosphate Hill. MAP was manufactured from domestic (Phosphate Hill) and imported rock phosphate. World Ranking Australia’s EDR of phosphate rock comprises less than 1% of the world’s total EDR of 18 Gt, which occurs principally as sedimentary marine phosphorites. Industry Developments WMC Fertilisers’ QFO is the only Australian producer of DAP and MAP, both of which are sold in Australia and overseas. Its major production-based operations – phosphate mine and beneficiation, phosphoric acid, ammonia and granulation plants – are at Phosphate Hill. Supporting facilities are located at Mt Isa (sulphuric acid plant) and Townsville (storage and ship handling facilities). Ore reserves at Phosphate Hill are sufficient to support production for more than 30 years. In 2004, WMC Fertilisers sold 75% of its fertiliser in Australia and 25% in Asia and produce a new product, sulphur-fortified MAP, which is expected to capture greater marketing opportunities in the future. Sulphur-fortified MAP provides a high-quality, low cadmium and low-heavy-metal alternative for pastures and cropping requiring sulphur. 61 Shale Oil Oil shale is organic-rich shale that yields substantial quantities of oil (shale oil) by heating and distillation. One tonne of oil shale may contain over 200 litres of oil. The organic material in oil shale is kerogen, which can be a precursor to conventional oil reservoirs given appropriate conditions in the crust. Australian oil shale deposits of commercial interest are predominantly in a series of narrow and deep extensional-basins near Gladstone and Mackay in central Queensland. These are thick Tertiary lacrustine (lake-formed) deposits that are relatively easy to mine. They contrast with generally harder carbonate bearing oil shales (marls) found elsewhere in the world that are more difficult to mine and process.
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