Name of the Mine
Tormin Mineral Sands Operation.

Location  
About 360 km north of Cape Town, on the West Coast of South Africa.

Mine Owner/s  
Mineral Commodities.

Brief Description  
The operation comprises several high-grade placer beach and strandline mineral sands deposits hosting some of the richest grades of naturally occurring zircon, ilmenite, rutile, magnetite and garnet in the world.

Tormin includes Tormin Beaches, Northern Beaches and Inland Strands.

Mineral Commodities believes that there is significant production upside potential from identifying, expanding and upgrading resources for the Western and Eastern Strandlines. Potential also exists to unlock resources from the current De Punt and Klipvley Karoo Inland Strands prospecting applications.

Brief History  
Operations started at Tormin in late 2013.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
Zircon, ilmenite, rutile, magnetite and garnet.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
None stated.

Geology/Mineralisation  
The Tormin Beaches deposit is an active placer beach sand deposit limited in extent on its eastern side by coastal cliffs and to depth by bedrock contact. The resource is open towards the ocean and surf zone on its western side, as well as along the coastline towards the north and south.

The Northern Beaches deposit is heavy mineral sands deposit, located on an active placer beach strandline undergoing continuous erosion, deposition and replenishment from oceanic storm and wave activity. The heavy minerals in the beach are constantly replenished by the transport of new sediment from deeper waters, much of which has been derived from the erosion of deposits accumulated in the elevated historic beach terraces onto the present beach.

The Inland Strand is a paleo-marine strandline 35 m above mean sea level in an area that has undergone historical exploration since the 1930s. It comprises multiple discrete paleo strandlines running semiparallel to the coastlineand within Mineral Commodities’ Geelwal Karoo 262 farm. Two paleo-marine strandlines have been identified – Western Strandline (35 m to 40 m above mean sea level) and an Eastern Strandline (86 m above mean sea level). Aeromagnetic data indicates that the strandlines run continuously along the coastline of the Mineral Commodities’ tenure portfolio.

The onshore mineral sands are marine paleo-terraces “Inlands Strands”, aeolian sands and fluvial sediments. These targets were formed during Miocene, Pliocene and Quaternary/Pleistocene coastal transgression (sea moving inland) and regression cycles.

The strandline is a concentration of high-grade valuable heavy minerals, with overburden horizons above the strandline in the form of aeolian facies (orange feldspathic sand), erosion surface facies (dorbank, silcrete, calcrete) and red aeolian sands deflation zones that have also been confirmed to be mineralised in places. The deposit hosts economic mineralisation in three main geological units of enriched high-grade mineral strandline deposits (1 m to 12 m thickness), bulk mineralisation in orange feldspathic sand (1 m to 44 m thickness) and low-grade in red aeolian sand (0 m to 11 m), as well as dorbank and gravel.

Reserves  
None stated.

Resources  
Total mineral resources at Tormin Beaches as at February 28, 2022, were estimated at 1.1-million tonnes grading 8.98% total heavy minerals using a 2% heavy mineral cutoff grade.

Total mineral resources at Northern Beaches as at February 28, 2022, were estimated at 2.4-million tonnes grading 21.61% total heavy minerals using a 2% cutoff.

Total mineral resources at Inland Strands as at December 31, 2021, were estimated at 193.2-million tonnes grading 9.58% total heavy minerals using a 2% cutoff.

Mining Method  
Tormin is a free-dig operation using conventional trucking, and excavation using mobile excavators, front-end loaders and trucks.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
Ore is processed through a primary beach concentrator where the minerals are separated by a chemical-free gravity process before the garnet is separated at a garnet stripping plant, and the nonmagnetic material is separated from the heavy mineral concentrate.

The saltwater tailings are pumped back to the beach near the processing plant where the tidal action of the waves on the beaches distributes the tailings in a natural process, effectively reforming the beach profile.

Prospects  
The Tormin renewed development strategy aims to provide a solid cash flow base. The strategy is premised on three essential aspects: maximising value from existing operations, increasing resources and reserves, and diversifying the heavy minerals footprint beyond Tormin.

Mineral Commodities contends that maximising value from existing operations will improve the efficiency, flexibility and scale of the Inland Strands operation, and the sustainability of mining the two placer beach deposits; reduce costs to the lowest quartile against comparable operations; and maximise final product value through transitioning from mixed concentrates to finished garnet and ilmenite mineral products.

Contact Details
Mineral Commodities
Tel +61 8 6373 8900
Email info@mncom.com.au

Sources
Mineral Commodities. Website: https://www.mineralcommodities.com/
Mineral Commodities. Annual Report (April 29, 2022).
Mineral Commodities. Quarterly activities report – December 2022.