Feb. 3, 2010
Mineral sands explorers in the Eucla basin are finding a few surprises in their mineralisation, and in some cases it could mean a doubling in size of deposits.
The overburden, or rock that is closer to the surface, usually isn't worth anything, but zircon explorer Diatreme Resources is pleasantly surprised to find that's not the case on the WA-SA border.
The company's Tony Fawdon says it will save millions of dollars by processing the overburden instead of discarding it.
"Most people don't really sample the overburden, and I guess we didn't," he says.
"It was only when we started to find high grade zircon at the top of the buried beaches that we started to suss that there was actually zircon up into the overburden."
Mineral sands explorers in the Eucla basin are finding a few surprises in their mineralisation, and in some cases it could mean a doubling in size of deposits.
The overburden, or rock that is closer to the surface, usually isn't worth anything, but zircon explorer Diatreme Resources is pleasantly surprised to find that's not the case on the WA-SA border.
The company's Tony Fawdon says it will save millions of dollars by processing the overburden instead of discarding it.
"Most people don't really sample the overburden, and I guess we didn't," he says.
"It was only when we started to find high grade zircon at the top of the buried beaches that we started to suss that there was actually zircon up into the overburden."
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