Mining Intelligence and News
Australia

Cataby Mine

Click for more information

Categories

Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Zircon
  • Rutile
  • Ilmenite
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
  • Dry mining
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotCataby is a large scale heavy mineral sands mine.

The mine produces two streams: an ilmenite rich concentrate for cleaning and upgrading to synthetic rutile at the North Capel Mineral Separation Plant, and a zircon/rutile rich concentrate for separation at the Narngulu Mineral Separation Plant.

Finalised power purchasing agreements for 9MW solar installation that will help power the Cataby mine from 2025.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Iluka Resources Ltd. 100 % Indirect
The Cataby Mineral Sands Project is located across several mining leases and comprise several third party freehold lots.

All mining tenements are held exclusively by Iluka Resources Limited.

Contractors

Lock

- subscription is required.

Deposit type

  • Sedimentary
  • Mineral sands

Summary:

The Premises is located within the central part of the northern Perth Basin, a deep linear trough of sedimentary rocks that is bounded to the east by the Darling Fault and composed of up to 12 km of Permian to Quaternary sediments. The regional stratigraphy indicates three distinct depositional cycles in the sedimentary succession, with each cycle separated by a major unconformity in the form of an erosional surface.

The mineralised ore that comprises the Cataby deposit is hosted in the Late Tertiary Yoganup Formation. In the southern portion of the Premises, south of Mimegarra Rd, the mineralised deposits are underlain by the Leederville Formation, whilst in the north are underlain by Yarragadee sediments. A small portion of the south-eastern section of the deposit is likely to be underlain by the Mesozoic sediments of the Parmelia Formation.

Basement materials
The Leederville, Parmelia and Yarragadee Formations consist of interbedded, weakly to well consolidated sandstone, siltstone, shale and claystone that, in the upper portions, have been deposited in a non-marine, primarily fluvial setting. The Leederville Formation sediments conformably overlie the Yarragadee and the Parmerlia Formations, and as such are considered to be in hydraulic continuity.

On the eastern margin of the deposit, the basement materials outcrop along the Gingin and Dandaragan Scarps.

Yoganup Formation
The mineralised sands of the Yoganup Formation unconformably overlie the Cretaceous Formations, resulting in an abrupt contact. The Yoganup Formation consists primarily of friable ‘beach’ sands which were deposited and developed during successive marine transgression and regression events. Given its predominantly sandy texture, it hosts the regional aquifer in a semiconfined system.

Guildford Formation
Following the last regression of sea levels in the Pliocene (Late Tertiary), alluvial, fluvial and colluvial conditions were favoured resulting in the deposition of the Guildford Formation. These conditions continued throughout the Pleistocene resulting in the development of thick (up to 30m) beds of primarily sandy clay to clay sediments directly overlying the sandy Yoganup Formation. Isolated zones of sand exist within the clayey Guildford sediments, in response to heterogeneous parent materials. These sandy zones are currently saturated resulting in isolated regions of groundwater within the predominately unsaturated clays.

Bassendean Sands
Unconformably overlying the Guildford Formation are a series of aeolian sand dunes corresponding to the Bassendean Dunal System. These dunes represent an eastern extension of the more widespread dunal system on the Swan Coastal Plain and often attain thicknesses of up to 10 m, playing an important role in controlling surface water movement throughout the region.

Reserves

Lock

- subscription is required.

Mining Methods

Lock

- subscription is required.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

Lock

- subscription is required.

Production

CommodityProductUnits20232022202120202019
Heavy Minerals Concentrate kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe240
Zircon Mineral kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe54
Rutile Mineral kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe16
Ilmenite Mineral kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe152
Synthetic rutile Mineral kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe196

Operational metrics

Metrics20232022202120202019
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe11,001 kt
Waste  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe11,138,000 bcm
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Production Costs

CommodityUnits20232022202120202019
Cash costs Heavy Minerals AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 747 / t  
Cash costs (sold) Heavy Minerals AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 816 / t  

Financials

Units20232022202120202019
Capital expenditures M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 270  
Revenue M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 414.2  
Pre-tax Income M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 160.4  
EBIT M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 172.7  
EBITDA M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 220.6  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Lock

- subscription is required.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNamePhoneProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ........... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 14, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 14, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 14, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 14, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Apr 2, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 14, 2024

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2022
...... Subscription required 2021
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2019

Aerial view:

Lock

- subscription is required.