Dubbo zirconia project

Deposit type: Magmatic, Alkalic igneous

REE minerals: bastnäsite, eudalite

Ore minerals: natroniobite, (Au, U, Th)

Gangue minerals:

Host rock types:

Average grade:

Status: Potential resource

Company:

Resource estimates:

The Dubbo Zirconia mine is a proposed open-cut mine located near Toongi village, approximately 25km south of Dubbo city, New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Aprroximately one million tonne of ore a year is estimated to be recovered from the mine.

The Dubbo Zirconia Project (DZP) will recover zirconium, hafnium, niobium, tantalum, yttrium and rare earth elements from the mine.

Zirconia is known to occur naturally in a mineable form in very few places in the world. Currently a mine in Russia produces a small amount of zirconia (3% of world output) from a mineral called baddeleyite, which is mined as a by-product of titanium mining. The remaining 97 per cent is currently produced in processing facilities using zircon (commonly found in mineral sands), rather than being mined from the ground.

The DZP site contains no zircon or naturally occurring zirconia. Instead, the DZP’s zirconia will be produced from an ore mined at the site containing eudialyte.

References

1. http://www.alkane.com.au/index.php/faq/dubbo

2. http://www.mining-technology.com/projects/the-dubbo-zirconia-project-new-south-wales/