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Ancient shoreline harbours a zircon bounty
Nov 19
Trevor Sykes


Iluka's latest great zircon discovery has not only highlighted the emergence of the Eucla Basin as a new mineral province, it has also focused attention on the next priorities for the development of South Australia's renascent mining industry.

For the benefit of those who missed the underpublicised announcement last Monday, Iluka has struck a deposit about 800 metres wide and up to 15 metres thick at a spot called Tripitaka, 180 kilometres north-west of Ceduna.

Better still, Adelaide Resources chairman Keith Yates told his annual meeting on Wednesday that heavy minerals were also visible in parallel drill holes one kilometre to the north and south of the discovery hole, indicating this could be quite a large deposit or series of deposits.

The heavy mineral content in the discovery hole ranged from 1 to 2.9 per cent, averaging a spectacular 63 per cent zircon. This is good news for Iluka and its joint venture partner at Tripitaka, Adelaide Resources.

A year ago, Iluka hit two similar deposits named Jacinth and Ambrosia on its wholly owned ground 90kilometres north-west of Tripitaka. Jacinth and Ambrosia contain an estimated 8 million tonnes of heavy minerals grading 55 per cent zircon.

Shareholders in Adelaide Resources - and particularly in Iluka - should be breaking out the bubbly this Christmas. The three deposits are small but very rich and added together amount to a new mineral province. There is also good reason to suspect more mineral sands will be found.

The discoveries have been the result of some fascinating geological detective work. The companies have been following the ancient shoreline of the Great Australian Bight, which ran some 200kilometres further north than it does today.

The geologists have not only traced the outline of the 40 million-year-old shore, but have worked out that the longshore current ran west-east. The drill targets are any J-shaped bays that faced westward because these are where the swirling currents would have winnowed out the heavy minerals in a very similar action to that used by a prospector in a panning dish.

By good fortune all three deposits contain abnormally high grades of zircon, which is now selling at $US600 a tonne. Zircon is mainly used in ceramics but also in refractory and foundry bricks. Demand for zircon is mainly from Asian markets and although the market growth is relatively modest at 3 per cent a year, prices are rising because of its scarcity. All three deposits will be easy to mine. The heavy minerals are at shallow depths in light earth. The 800-metre strike length of Tripitaka is sixmetres below surface at one end and 20metres at the other.