Thunderbird project

The Thunderbird Project is part of the wider Dampier Mineral Sands project, that is located on the Dampier Peninsula, approximately 25 kilometres north of the Great Northern Highway and about 60 kilometres west of Derby, in the Canning Basin region of Western Australia.

Thunderbird Project to Stand out Among Other World Class Sand Mines

The Thunderbird heavy mineral sands project has the potential to become one of the largest sand mining and processing operation in the world as it's sand mineralisation is made up of 59 percent zircon, with the balance in substantial amounts of high grade HiTi leucoxene and sulphate ilmenite. It's high percentage of Zircon, coupled with its high grade ilmenite, makes the Thunderbird Project stand out among other world class sand mines.

Dampier Mineral Sands Thunderbird Project Being Developed by Sheffield Resources Limited

The Dampier Mineral Sands Thunderbird Project is being developed by Sheffield Resources Limited, an Australian mineral sands exploration and development company with its headquarters in Perth. Sheffield Resources completed a Thunderbird Project Pre-Feasibility Study in October, 2015, that concluded the project could produce an initial 12 million tonnes of heavy mineral sand a year that could be increased to 18 million tonnes annually by year eight.

Thunderbird Sand Mine to be one of the World's Largest

The Thunderbird heavy mineral sand ore body is one of the largest to be discovered for the last 30 years, having a total Mineral Resource of 3.2 billion tonnes grading at 6.9 percent heavy minerals that contains 61.8 million tonnes of ilmenite, 18.5 million tonnes of zircon, 6.9 million tonnes of leucoxene and 5.9 million tonnes of high titanium leucoxene, sufficient to give the mine a life of 40 years with the potential for extension in the future. The Thunderbird heavy mineral sand mining operation will become one of the largest dry mineral sand mines in the world.

The Dampier mineral sand project is spread out over 3,952 square kilometres within which the Thunderbird Project takes up one mining lease application, an active exploration licence and seven miscellaneous licences that relate to off site infrastructure. It is the first large scale heavy mineral sands deposit to be located in the Canning Basin region. Construction of the Thunderbird sand mine has been scheduled to begin in 2017, with commissioning to take place in 2018 and first commercial production to be achieved in 2019.

Over the 40 year mine life period it is estimated the Thunderbird sand mine will produce around 396,000 tonnes of ilmenite, 100,000 tonnes of zircon and 26,000 tonnes of high titanium leucoxene. However, before production can begin, an ilmenite upgrade plant will have to be built that will allow the company to continue producing large quantities of high quality, high grade sulphite ilmenite, over a long period of time. As production increase to 18 million tonnes of ore a year the extra equipment and plant required to achieve the extra throughput will be financed by operating cash flow. The power station and accommodation camp will be provided through a 'build, own and operate' arrangement, which will also lower startup costs.