Published by: Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR),1 Spring Street, GPO Box 4509, Victoria 3001, Australia

Authorised by: Victoria Government, 1 Spring Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia

© The State of Victoria, 2019. Copyright in the contents of this publication vests in the State of Victoria, Australia. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under copyright legislation, no part may be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever.

Subject to the operation of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cwth), you may reproduce the material which appears in this publication for personal, in-house or non-commercial use, on condition that: - you acknowledge the copyright owner; - no official connection is claimed; - the material is made available without change or any cost; and - the material is not subject to inaccurate, misleading or derogatory treatment.

For more information about the Victorian Government’s earth resources go to: earthresources.vic.gov.au or phone DJPR on (03) 9651 9999.

Disclaimer:The material presented in this publication are distributed by the State of Victoria as a source of information only. The State of Victoria makes no statements, representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any of the information contained in this publication.

The State of Victoria and its employees disclaim all responsibility and all liability which may arise from relying on any information in this publication, including without limitation, liability in negligence, for all expenses, losses, damages and cost that may be incurred as a result of the information being inaccurate or incomplete in any way and for any reason.

Notes1 Not all EDR is accessible; some resource is quarantined due to location (e.g. National Park) or other mining restriction2 Geoscience Australia Report: Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources 2012, ga.gov.au/data-pubs/data-and-publications-search/publications/aimr/mineral- sands3 Earth Resources Regulations - 2012/13 Statistical Report, Victorian Government4 Geoscience Australia Report: Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources 2012, ga.gov.au/data-pubs/data-and-publications-search/publications/aimr/mineral- sands

• Victoria has proven resources whose size, grade and assemblages are globally significant.

• Victoria has an established mineral sands industry with a centrally located mineral separation plant.

• There are exploration opportunities in Victoria in the Gippsland Basin or to rework ground to explore for both coarse and fine grained deposits in the Murray Basin.

Victoria, Australia

• Victoria boasts political and economic stability and low sovereign risk.

• Victoria features easy access to sophisticated infrastructure, established markets and export pathways.

• Victoria provides opportunities to have an enviable lifestyle in a secure environment with world class facilities and services.

Key reasons to explore in Victoria

Victoria offers advice and information to assist explorers, including:

• A 3D geological model that can be used to analyse resource potential, predict the location of undiscovered earth resources and allow the development of four-dimensional resource management frameworks earthresources.efirst.com.au

• An online tool to create customised scientific maps in real time or to view, download or interrogate geoscientific databases, including geology, drill holes and geochemistry earthresources.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/maps-reports- and-data/geovic

• Free digital geoscience maps, reports and data, including geological, geochemical, geophysical, regolith, minerals and open file tenements earthresources.efirst.com.au

• Pre-competitive data, information and knowledge accumulated over more than 160 years of exploration and mining.

Victoria is committed to economic development

Victoria provides a positive business environment efficient regulation and security of tenure for explorers and developers.

To access more information about Victoria’s gold and other minerals, visit:

earthresources.vic.gov.au

Jobs,Precinctsand Regions

earthresources.vic.gov.au Jobs,Precinctsand Regions

Jobs,Precinctsand Regions

In 2012-2013, Victoria’s mineral sands production was 86,243 t zircon, 140,842 t rutile and 67,067 t ilmenite at a total estimated net market value of $282.7 million.3

During 2011 Australia was the world’s largest producer of rutile and zircon at 61.3% and 52.6% respectively. Australia was also the third largest producer of ilmenite at 11.1% of global production.4

In addition, in 2011 Victoria had Australia’s largestproportion of inferred resources of ilmenite, rutile andzircon at 48.1%, 62.9% and 74.9% respectively.2

On a global scale, Australia’s EDR of rutile and zircon was ranked number one at 53% and 50% respectively, while its EDR of ilmenite was ranked second after China.

Exploration and development opportunities

Most mineral sands activity is focused on the Murray Basin in the State’s west. There are exploration opportunities in Victoria in the Murray, Gippsland and Otway basins. Gippsland is an emerging province with inferred resources already being identified.

Several companies are active in mineral sands exploration in Victoria. New entrants are encouraged to monitor licence renewals and are able to negotiate licence transfers or seek joint ventures with existing holders.

Victoria’s online geospatial tool, GeoVic, can assist with identifying vacant ground. earthresources.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/maps-reports-and-data/geovic

Victoria, Australia, is emerging as a

world-class mineral sands province

offering developers proven mineral

endowment, supported by quality

geoscience information and sophisticated

export infrastructure.

Victoria’s mineral sands deposits

Victoria’s mineral sands deposits are considered extremely competitive in a global context, in terms of size, grade and assemblage.

Victoria has extensive deposits of mineral sands whichcomprise:

• Titanium minerals (rutile and ilmenite); • Zircon; • Monazite; and • Xenotime, containing yttrium.

Victoria’s mineral sand endowment includes an estimated 350 million tonnes (Mt) of coarse grained, strandline deposits and a further three billion tonnes of fine grained, WIM style deposits.

The coarse grained, strandline deposits are currently mined mainly for their zircon and rutile contents.

Proven prospectivity

In 2011, Victoria had 21.8% of Australia’s Economic Demonstrated Resource (EDR) of ilmenite, 33.8% of its zirconand 42.3% of its rutile.1

VICTORIA – a world-class mineral sands province

Mineral Sands

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

"

Mildura

Swan Hill

Shepparton Wangaratta

MELBOURNE Bairnsdale

Geelong

Portland

Hamilton

Horsham

Ouyen

MURRAYBASIN

GIPPSLANDBASINOTWAY

BASIN

Basin boundaries

Unavailable Crown Land

Current exploration licences (mineral sands nominated)

Current mining licences (mineral sands)

Strand line deposits

Major road

Major Rail

WIM-style fine-grained deposits

Mineral Sands Mines and Deposits

Donald (Astron)

WIM 150(Orient Zirconic)

Fingerboards(Kalbar)

Coarse sands and gravels(Mineralised strandline)

Dunes

Fine sand

WIM-style deposits

Mineralisedstrandlines

Shallow sea

Idealised relationships between ‘WIM’ and ‘strand-style’ mineral sands deposits. From Base Minerals Ltd.

Inferred Resource (2013): 130,000,000 t @ 1.7% HMMossiface*Includes deposits in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales

Inferred Resource (2013): 1,600,000,000 t @ 2.2% HM FingerboardsKalbar Resources

Indicated and Inferred Resource (2018): 311,800,000 t @ 4.3% HMAvonbankWIM Resources Pty Ltd

Proved and Probable Reserve (2014): 12,000,000 t @16.0% HM for 1,930,000 t HMMurray Basin*

Iluka Resources

Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource (2013): 1,650,000,000 t @ 3.7% HM for 61,050,000 t HMProved and Probable Reserve (2013): 552,000,000 t @ 4.3% HM for 23,736,000 t HM

WIM 150 Project

Orient Zirconic

Resource Es�mate (2014): 4,780,000,000 t @ 3.7 % HM for 176,860 t HMDonald Mineral SandsProject

Astron Ltd

Resource Es�mateCompany and Resource

Jobs,Precinctsand Regions

The Murray Basin is home to more than 70 strandline mineral sands deposits containing more than 350 million tonnes of material.

Mineral sands in VictoriaHeavy Mineral Sands (HMS) were first reported in the Murray Basin in Victoria in 1967. A concerted and broad-ranging campaign by CRA Exploration Pty Ltd (now Rio Tinto) and other companies during the 1980s and 1990s established the Murray Basin as a major HMS province.

HMS are placer deposits in which high specific gravity minerals are concentrated. In Victoria, the valuable heavy minerals (VHM) fraction of mineral sands deposits includes zircon, rutile, leucoxene and ilmenite; monazite is also present.

Deposit formationHMS accumulated in the near-shore environment of the Murray Basin sea, primarily as strandline deposits (where HMS tend to concentrate in a near-shore, low-energy zone) and WIM-style off-shore deposits which formed in deeper water. WIM deposits predate strandline deposits.

Victoria hosts two styles of mineral sands deposits: strandline and WIM style. Strandline deposits are characterised by their relatively linear geometry and WIM-style deposits by their sheet-like geometry.

Strandline deposits tend to be coarse grained (>100 µm grain size), relatively rich, with grades in the range of 5-20% HMS, but are relatively low tonnage.

WIM-style deposits tend to be fine grained (<100 µm grain size) with lower grades, in the range of 2-5% HMS, but tonnages are generally at least one order of magnitude greater than that of strandline deposits. The WIM-style deposits have exhibited high quality mineral assemblages, showing 20% zircon, up to 35% high titania minerals and 40% ilmenite.

Building on its existing baseVictoria is extremely well placed on a world scale due to the high quality of its mineral assemblage, the high resource grade and the substantial size of the mineral sands resource.