QIT Madagascar Minerals S.A. (QMM) is a JV ilmenite mining project. It consists of three deposits that will be mined sequentially (Mandena, Ste Luce and Petriky). The Mandena, Petriky and Sainte Luce heavy mineral sand deposits are located in the Fort-Dauphin region on the south-eastern tip of Madagascar.

The Fort-Dauphin beach sand placer is located in Flandrian Dunes surrounded by the Vohimena Mountains and the Indian Ocean in South-East of Madagascar Island. The placer contributes 2/3 of the total heavy mineral resources of this country.

In the studied region there are igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary formations. The igneous formation occupies majority part of the Fort-Dauphin region and consists of the Vohimena and the Anosyenne Mountains granitic complexes. The essential compositions of the granitic complex are charnockite and garnet - biotite granite with few dozen meter of lenses containing apatite-biotite, zircon and large crystal of monazite. The Anosyenne granite is composed of ilmenite, monazite and magnetite (Andriamanantena, 2008). The coastal sedimentary formation consists of heavy minerals transported from eroded Anosyenne granite. Due to the potassium feldspar alteration, greenish yellow color is observed along the formation (Lacroix, 1922). The metamorphic formation in this area is characterized by the banded gneiss with biotite, cordierite, spinel, sillimanite, garnet, orthoclase and plagioclase (Bazot, 1974). The placer is very ri ........

QMM’s operations comprise three sites to be mined sequentially (Mandena, Ste Luce, and Petriky) Mining at the first site, Mandena, commenced in 2009.

Ilmenite contains titanium dioxide, used principally as a raw material in the manufacture of white pigment. It is mined using a dredge situated on artificial ponds that move across the ore body as mining progresses. A 95 per cent of the material mined by the dredge is returned to the environment.

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QMM uses a natural system (without chemicals) to filter its effluents - called ‘‘process water’’ by QMM - before discharge into the natural environment. Water from the mine operations is directed through a circuit of settling paddocks to reduce the suspended solids load. Process water is then recirculated for operational uses. When paddocks level increases due to water runoffs, water is discharged to natural on- lease swamps connected to the Mandromondromotra river, the receiving environment. According to our water management plan, only excess water inside mine operations is discharged to swamps a few hundred meters long before reaching the Mandromondromotra river. The discharge of water is not continuous and may not
occur for periods that could extend to more than one month.