THE mining focus on King Island has been on the Dolphin Tungsten Project, owned by Group 6 Metals, and its redevelopment of the King Island Scheelite mining operations in Grassy.
The impetus is the demand, role and value of tungsten in the renewable and technology economies and markets.
Tungsten is classified as a critical mineral and as such is identified as building sovereign capability. Flying under the island radar is another critical mineral mine on the island.
Heavy mineral sands mining is undertaken by Naracoopa Minerals and Sands on the east coast. Mineral sand deposits contain a concentrated amount of economically important minerals known as ‘heavy minerals’, which are heavier than common sand minerals such as quartz.
These heavy minerals contain high concentrations of critical minerals such as rutile, titanium, ilmenite, and zirconium with associated rareearth elements.
A critical mineral is a metallic or non-metallic element that has two characteristics.
It is essential for the functioning of our modern technologies, economies or national security and there is a risk that its supply chains could be disrupted.
Heavy minerals sands mining has the attention of state and federal governments and investors. The Western Australian Thunderbird Mineral Sand Mine is one of the richest deposits in the world.
It has attracted mine redevelopment funding running into hundreds of $millions over the past two years.
There are about eight developed or under redevelopment mineral sand mines in Victoria and the latest in Donald in Western Victoria.
The owner, ASX-listed Astron Corporation has secured $183 million in funding for the development of this rare earth and mineral sands mine in recent weeks.
Interest in the mineralisation of the Naracoopa area of King Island began as early as 1905 with the search for tin ore deposits.
High-grade deposits of tin were first located at Milford Beach adjacent to the mouth of the Fraser River.
It is recorded that placer mining for mineral sand took place at Naracoopa in 1905. Placer mining is surface mining and can be anything from a prospector using a pan and water to find heavy minerals through to large opencut mining methods.
The 1905 mining north of the mouth of the Fraser River is recorded to have produced 5 tonnes of Cassiterite and one and a half ounces of gold.
Rutile and Zircon, found in mineral sands, were mined in the 1960s to obtain titanium dioxide, used in paint manufacture, and zirconium dioxide, valuable for its ability to withstand high temperatures. In 1968, Mount Costigan Mines, through its subsidiary Naracoopa Rutile Ltd, set up a plant at Naracoopa.
Production began in 1969, but in three years the plant produced only 20,000 tonnes of rutile and 23,000 tonnes of zircon, due to inadequate reserves and difficulties in recovering the minerals.
The company went into receivership in 1972.
In the mid-1970s another mainland company, Buka Minerals, bought the mine and formed Kibuka Mines to manage the operation, but found the same problems, and mining ended in 1977.
It was discovered that heavy mineral sand deposits continued north from this area to the north of Cowper Point where in old beach dunes behind Sea Elephant Bay and where the Sea Elephant River meets the eastern coast of the island.
Mining started again around 2010, now operated by Naracoopa Minerals and Metals.
In 2023, Naracoopa Mineral Sands applied for an exploration licence over a further 83 km2 in Sea Elephant Bay.
The heavy mineral sand deposits at Naracoopa are made up of extensive sand dunes and beach sand that form an undulating pattern between 20-2 m above sea level and 500 metres wide. The sand also contains peat with a clay base at about 10 metres depth.
The average thickness of the heavy mineralised sand is about seven metres. According to reports, the operation is producing around 200,000 tonnes of heavy mineral sands each year for export.
Next week: Mineral Sands.