Heavy Minerals Mining

Africa is a connent richly endowed with a variety of economically viable mineral deposits. The connued discoveries of these mineral deposits have made the connent a beehive of acvity in the recent past with mulnaonal mining companies seeking to have a piece of the pie.

Heavy Minerals Mining is one of the numerous exploraon acvies currently being undertaken on the connent. They are called heavy minerals because they have a density greater than 2.9 g/cm3. 75 percent of the world's tanium is produced from heavy mineral sands. Various African countries have huge deposits of this mineral with South Africa being the second largest producer of tanium and zircon in the world aer Australia.

Kenya will see its first bulk shipment of tanium minerals come online in January 2014 from Base Titanium's Kwale project while other countries like Namibia,

Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Gambia and Mauritania also have heavy mineral potenal.

Heavy mineral sands are an accumulaon of valuable minerals, normally called placer deposits, formed by gravity separaon during sedimentary processes.

Upon deposing of sand on the coastline by waves heavy minerals are concentrated as backwash carries some of the lighter minerals back to sea. Onshore winds which preferenally blow lighter grains inland somemes lead to higher concentraons of heavy minerals at the front of coastal dunes and as a result strandlines, old fossil shorelines, can now be found a lile distance inland. Heavy mineral sands are an important source of tanium, rare earth elements, thorium, zirconium and tungsten and industrial minerals such as diamond, sapphire, garnet and occasionally gemstones.

Applicaon

Heavy minerals have vital economic applicaons. Even though the strength and chemical inertness of tanium allows it to be used in defense, medical and aerospace industries more than 95 per cent of total tanium supply is for pigment producon. Zircon is used in TV screens due to its ability to absorb X-rays. Its hardness, high melng point and low expansion coefficient when heated enables it to be used in foundry sand and as an abrasive.

It is also used as a source of zirconia for the chemical industry in adhesives, anperspirants, catalysts, aqueous polymers, gelan hardening and dyes. Zircon is also used mostly in the ceramics industry to glaze finishes of les, crockery and bathware for durability and resistance to discoloraon.

As a metal Zirconium is fairly so, malleable and easily worked. Its high density and high melng point makes it suitable to be used in modern superconductors. The oxide is also used in fuel cells, transducers in audio equipment and oxygen sensors. In the paper coang industry, Zr-carbonate acts as an insolubilizer while in texles potassium hexafluorozirconate acts as a flame retardant.

Benefits

Heavy mineral mining has both economic and social benefits to the host countries. Mining of these minerals creates employment for thousands of cizenry. This significantly improves the social status of the people in the third world countries. It also leads to development of various infrastructure projects such as roads, ports, dams e.t.c. An ideal example of how these mining acvies can benefit the local people and play an important role in advancing the naonal economy well beyond the life of the mining operaon is Base's Kwale project in Kenya.