Tiwi

Although the mineral sands mine on the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory has been placed on care and maintenance, after all mining operations ceased at the site on January 16, 2013, the site is still undergoing rehabilitation and environmental care. This will continue while employees remain on the site to carry out audits and generally assist with the rehabilitation process. All is not lost however, as MZI Resources Limited , the mine owners, have submitted development approvals to allow further exploration on their Kilimiraka mineral sands project which is also located on the Tiwi Islands.

All Land Disturbed by Mining is Being Fully Rehabilitated

MZI Resources Limited are committed to ensuring all land that has been disturbed to allow mining at Tiwi is fully restored to the condition it was in before mining began at the site, as soon as it can. To facilitate this processs the company has been working closely with traditional land owners and the Tiwi Land Council, who are providing local knowledge and expertise in understanding the land along with its unique characteristics.

Sand Mining at Tiwi Takes Place on Melville Island

The Tiwi Islands consist of two main islands, Bathurst and Melville, both a 25 minute flight from Darwin, 50 kilometres to their south. Mine owner, MZI Resources and before them the previous owners, Matilda Minerals, had been operating mineral sand mines there since 2006. The first being the Andranagoo Mine. MZI's first mine to be operated under its own name at Tiwi was the Lethbridge West mine which it opened in 2009 on Melville Island. This mine only contained a small deposit which lasted just four months, however, the 134,500 tonnes mined produced 11,500 tonnes of concentrate. The Lethbridge West mine was closed in 2010 and has been fully rehabilitated back to its original condition. The same year (2010) MZI Resources began mining mineral sand at Lethbridge South, also on Melville Island. This deposit was four kilometres south of their Lethbridge West operation and although being four times larger it only produced half the grade, 2.5 percent. Mineral sand at Tiwi is high in rutile and zircon. The concentrate obtained usually has a rutile content of 40 percent and a zircon content of between 40 and 50 percent. The Lethbridge South mine actually finished up returning concentrate in excess of 30 percent rutile and 30 percent zircon.

First Shipment From the Reopened Mine Took Place in 2010

It was in August, 2010, after the mine was reopened, when the former mine owner, Matilda Minerals Limited, exported its first shipment of rutile and zircon to its customers in China, from Tiwi. It finished the year shipping a total of 40,000 tonnes of high grade concentrate. This occurred after Matilda Minerals signed a deal with Chinese company Tricoastal Minerals, the owner of one of China's biggest mineral separation facilities. The mineral sand mines on Tiwi being operated for their owners by Brash Contracting.

To allow for lower cost and more efficient mining, Matilda Minerals introduced a mobile slurry unit to its processing stream. This allowed the ore to be fed directly into the mobile slurry prior to being pumped into the concentrator circuit. By doing this they eliminated having to use dump trucks