Mine Details
Douglas iluka murray basin
http://www.iluka.com
rutile, mineral-sands, zircon, ilmenite
Phone:
Address:
VIC, 3409
State: VIC, 3409
Email:
The Douglas open cut sand mining operation being carried out at Douglas in the Southern Grampian district of Victoria by Iluka since 2006, expired in 2012, along with another nearby operation named Echo.
Iluka has Moved on to Their Murray Basin Stage two Operation
The mineral sand deposit at Douglas, which was rich in zircon, was trucked to the Victorian town of Hamilton where it was processed. Iluka are now concentrating on their Murray Basin Stage 2 project that includes a series of deposits at Woornack, the Pirro group of deposits and Rownack. These deposits are located near the Mallee wheat and sheep district of Ouyen. Mining equipment was transported from the Douglas and Echo deposits to be utilised at these new operations. Unit plants such as the concentrator and pre-concentrator infrastructure have been relocated from Kulwin to Pirro.
Feasibility is currently being carried out regarding potential development in the Balranald area of southern NSW where some large mineral sand deposits exists. These are referred to as being the Euston deposits.
Iluka's Mineral Separation Plant Located at Hamilton
The Iluka mineral separation plant located at Hamilton is large enough to accept all of Iluka's south Eastern Australia concentrate no matter were the minerals are sourced. The Hamilton plant uses a system known as electro magnetic and electrostatic separation to produce the final product of ilmentite, rutile, and zircon. The processing capacity being 700 thousand tonnes a year which breaks down to 200,000 tonnes of rutile, 165,000 tonnes zircon and the rest ilmentite.
The Murray Valley and Mallee deposits currently being mined at Pirro, Rownack and Woornack send their processed heavy mineral concentrate by rail to the Hamilton separation plant. The Hamilton product is in turn road transported 85 kilometres to a port at Portland. Some is sent by truck the Melbourne for export.
Local Workers Preferred Where Possible
Iluka usually use workers from the locality they are operating in at the time although they do provide a camp able to cater for 120 personnel at Ouyen in the Victorian Mallee. This camp services the Pirro, Rownack and Woornack operations.
Rehabilitation of Douglas Completed
The company has completed the rehabilitation of the site where the Douglas mine was operating and it has now been returned to pastoral usage. The rehabilitation was carried out by local workers from the district and it involved reconstruction of the landform, returning topsoil, pasture seeding and replacement of fencing.
