Mine Details
Ginkgo
http://www.bemax.com.au/eastern_australia_detail.asp
rutile, zircon, leucoxene, ilmenite, , Camp, DiDo
Phone:
Address:
PO Box 444, Broken Hill, NSW, 2880
State: PO Box 444, Broken Hill, NSW, 2880
Email:
The Ginkgo mineral sand mine, located 55 kilometres from Pooncarie in the Murray Basin region of South West New South Wales, on part of Malara Station, begun operations in December 2005. It is wholly owned by Bemax Resources, which in turn is owned by Cristal Australia Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the privately owned National Titanium Dioxide Company Limited that has its headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Ginkgo Mine Operates Every day of the Year
Most workers at the Ginkgo sand mine drive to the the mine site from either Broken Hill or Mildura and are housed on site, in camp accommodation, whilst carrying out their restored shifts. Although the mine operates seven days a week every day of the year, most workers work a five day on five day off roster.
First Commercial Sand Mine in the Murray Basin
When the Ginkgo mine began production in 2005 in the Murray Basin region it was the first commercial mine to ever do so. Since that time the same mine owner, Bemax Resources, have opened another similar operation, 10 kilometres to its south, known as the Snapper mineral sand mine. The new Snapper mine uses the same infrastructure and processing plant as does the Ginkgo mine. Both mines produce rutile and zircon.
Concentrate Taken to Broken Hill for Processing
† The Ginkgo mine transports mineral sand concentrate by road haulage to its Mineral Separation Plant at Broken Hill along 67 kilometres of unsealed road before reaching the Silver City Highway, that takes it through to Broken Hill. Electric power to the Ginkgo mine is supplied from a link to the state power grid.
The Mineral Separation Plant at Broken Hill has a wet gravity circuit and a leucoxene circuit that is able to process leucoxene and ilmenite as well as the non magnetic products of rutile and zircon. Once processed and separated the minerals are taken from Broken Hill to the Port of Bunbury in Western Australia for marketing. BeMax is regarded as being the seventh largest producer of Zircon, the third largest producer of rutile and the largest producer of leucoxene in the world.
Mining by Traditional wet Dredge Method
The Ginkgo sand mine uses the traditional wet dredge method of sand mining to recover the ore deposits. The dredge, along with the first gravity concentrator unit operate in a pond of water. The overburden having been removed in the usual manner by mobile excavation equipment. A conveyor system was previously used at the Ginkgo mine for removal of overburden, this has been replaced by a more reliable shovel and truck operation. Dredge mining was chosen as the most suitable way of recovering the mineral sand because of the plentiful ground water resource and the specific suitability of the type of sand making up the ore body.
The floating dredge recovers the ore by means of a rotating bucket wheel that digs into the sand . This allows a suction pipe to suck the ore up from below the water level. The dredge is controlled by a series of anchors,winches and 'spuds.' A spud controls the backward and forward movement and the anchors and winches the lateral movement of the dredge.
World Class Mineral Sand Deposits
The Murray Basin area of NSW where the Ginkgo mine is located, contains world class titanium and zircon mineral sands deposits that Bemax is continually focusing on identifying in order to expand its operations in the area. This development expansion program is already showing success with the recent commissioning of the nearby Snapper mine.
