The Eneabba Mineral Separation Plant (MSP) By-Product Mineral Resource is located within the Perth Basin however the material is made up of mineral sands by-product from Iluka’s Narngulu MSP. Being a minerals sands stockpile there is no geological structure. The stockpile physically presents as a fine grained sand and is approximately 300m in length, 150 wide and varies from 1 to 15m in thickness. The fine grained, dark brown to black material is easily distinguishable from the yellow clayey sand it resides on.

A half to one meter cap of orange brown, gravelly, clayey sand covers the resource. A mixed zone of the by-product and capping immediately below the capping with high HM grade in combination with elevated slimes and oversize is recognised, being defined in the resource estimation and reporting.

The tailings material comprises a mixture of ilmenite, staurolite, aluminosilicates, zircon and the rare earth bearing mineral ‘monazite’, a naturally-occurring radioactive material (NORM). [08/01/2019 Decision Report, p. 2]

The mining will be campaigned and require a Front End Loader (FEL) to move the by-product from the stockpile and feed into a mobile screening plant. A bulldozer will be required for short periods of time to push the top of the by-product stockpile down to enable safe access by the FEL. Once dry screened, the material will be loaded into dump trucks and dumped near the Wet Screening Plant (WSP) for processing.

Mining of the thin layer of waste capping material covering the stockpile will be conducted using a truck and shovel fleet.

Grade control will occur during the mining process, with daily sampling to analyse materials for blending. Blending and grade control will occur during the mobile screening process within the pit. The heavy mineral sand is easily distinguishable from the underlying yellow clayey sand and as such minimal dilution or ore loss is expected.

The project is proposed to be developed in two phases:

Phase 1 of the project involves extraction and sale of zircon-monazite concentrate via a simple process. The project has received Board approval and is underpinned by an offtake agreement for 50 thousand tonnes of concentrate per annum for 2 years.

The mining will be campaigned and require a Front End Loader (FEL) to move the by-product from the stockpile and feed into a mobile screening plant. A bulldozer will be required for short periods of time to push the top of the by-product stockpile down to enable safe access by the FEL. Once dry screened, the material will be loaded into dump trucks and dumped near the Wet Screening Plant (WSP) for processing.

Material stockpiled is fed into the WSP by an FEL. The WSP completes primary separation of any remaining oversize material and from any fine clay/slimes. The WSP uses a wet vibrating screen to remove any material above 1mm in particle size.
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