AUSTRALIAN MINING company Mineral Commodities has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the East London Industrial Development Zone Corporation to take up a 30-ha site for the construction of an ilmenite smelter, according to a report in Engineering News. This means that the company has an option to buy the 30-ha site in the zone should the project get the green light following an environmental-impact assessment and a detailed business plan, explains East London IDZ CEO Peter Miles. The MoU initially secured a 10-ha site but has subsequently been amended, increasing the area under option to 30 ha to allow for expansion of the smelting activities and the potential location of the mineral-separation plant on the same site. Mineral Commodities, through its subsidiary Transworld Energy and Minerals Resources (SA), is examining the viability of mining and processing the Xolobeni mineral sands deposits located 200 km south of Durban in the Eastern Cape. The lease area extends continuously along the coast for about 22 km from the Mzamba river in the north to the Mtentu river on the southern boundary. The width varies from 1,5 km to 2 km and covers about 3 300 ha. Earlier this year the company announced a 29 per cent resource increase at its Xolobeni mineral-sands project to 16,9-million tons of contained heavy minerals. The resource estimate update carried out by SRK Consulting (in the measured and indicated categories) comprises 313-million tons at 5,4 per cent heavy minerals (HM) with an ilmenite grade of 2,9 per cent. This compares with the previously announced resource of 196-million tons at 6,7 per cent HM and 3 per cent ilmenite grade. The Xolobeni mineral sands prospect lies in close proximity to existing major mineral sand operations owned by ISCOR and Richards Bay Mining. It is a strategic deposit due to location, and it is of a size to be regionally significant. The predominant valuable heavy mineral is ilmenite which is the feedstock for titanium slag production. The other products rutile, zircon and leucoxene add significantly to the value of the deposit, according to the company. Mineral Commodities CEO Alan Luscombe told Engineering News that the resource upgrade represented a significant increase in tonnage, particularly in the central Kwanyana and Mnyameni blocks at Xolobeni, and confirmed the deposit as one of the world’s key emerging mineral-sands projects. The pre-feasibility study on a potential $202-million development of the Xolobeni project, including the proposed construction of a separate mineral-separation plant (MSP) and downstream smelter in the Eastern Cape Province, was due to be completed by mid-2003 incorporating the new resource estimate paving the way for a definitive feasibility study to begin during the second half of this year. Scoping studies and test work already completed by Mineral Commodities, based on the previously-announced resource of 196-million tons, has demonstrated its potential to generate about $1,3-billion in revenue over an estimated 17-year mine life, or $77-million in revenue a year. This is based on a mining and processing rate of 12-million tons a year to produce 530 000 t/y HM concentrate, 250 000 t/y of ilmenite roaster feed, 15 000 t/y of rutile, 15 000 t/y of leucoxene and 15 000 t/y of zircon. The deposit is suitable for large-scale dry mining followed by processing in an on-site wet concentrate plant. Assessments conducted by Mintek have confirmed that the ilmenite is suitable for smelting to produce an enriched slag (86 per cent TiO2), which is suitable for pigment production by the chlorination process. The HM concentrate produced would be transported to the mineral-separation plant to produce ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene and zircon products. The ilmenite would be treated in a smelter to produce pig iron and titania slag. The Xolobeni project has secured funding from the South African Export Capital, set up as a joint initiative between Absa Bank and the Department of Trade and Industry.