Name: Jacinth-Ambrosia mine.

Location: The project is located about 800 km from Adelaide and 270 km from the Port of Thevenard, in South Australia.

Mine Owner/s: International mineral sands company Iluka.

Brief Description: The Jacinth-Ambrosia operation is the world’s biggest zircon mine. It comprises the contiguous Jacinth and Ambrosia deposits.

Ambrosia is located about 3 km north of Jacinth.

The Ambrosia deposit is 3 km to the north of Jacinth and is about 2.2 km long by 0.7 km wide. The Ambrosia deposit is 3 km to the north of Jacinth and is ~2.2 km long by 0.7 km wide.

Brief History: The Jacinth-Ambrosia deposit was discovered by Iluka in 2004 and mining started at the site in 2010.

Primary Metals/Minerals: Zircon.

Secondary Metals/Minerals: Rutile and ilmenite.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Jacinth-Ambrosia mine is a zircon-rich mineral deposit located 200 km north-west of Ceduna, in the Eucla basin.  The basin is one of the world’s biggest onshore ranges of Cenozoic deposits. This includes more than 650 km of coast dune complexes along the north-eastern basin margin, which have been altered by aeolian processes to form the Ooldea and Barton sand ranges.

Jacinth and Ambrosia formed on the western side of the Ooldea barrier system, with heavy minerals focused in a prograding beach complex.

The Jacinth deposit has an overall north-to-south orientation and slightly bent in plain view, and features a high-grade core above the bedrock contact and extends across the whole breadth of the deposits. The Ambrosia deposit extends north-west to south-east, with heavy mineral content more unevenly distributed than for Jacinth. It also has a lower head grade.

Reserves: Not stated.

Resources:  Total resources as at December 31, 2020, were estimated at 345-million tonnes grading 4.8% heavy minerals for 16.6-million tonnes of in situ heavy minerals.

Mining Method: Openpit

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The Jacinth-Ambrosia operation encompasses mining and wet concentration activities, with heavy mineral concentrate transported to Iluka's Narngulu mineral separation plant, in Western Australia, for final processing. The operation is capable of processing up to 1 000 t/h of ore, which equates to about 120 t/h of heavy mineral concentrate. 

Prospects: Atacama is a satellite deposit located about 5 km from Ambrosia. The deposit has the potential to supplement and extend zircon production at Jacinth-Ambrosia and also provide a meaningful supply of ilmenite by using existing infrastructure. The feasibility of the project depends on a processing solution that allows for the upgrading or selling of ilmenite; work continues to validate a processing route.

Contact Details:
Iluka
Phone: + 61 8 9360 ​4700
Website https://iluka.com/