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Australia hosts some 95m tonnes magnesite reserves and has been a major supplier of the global market for much of the last century. Cameron Perks, IM Correspondent, and Richard Flook, Consultant*, examine the history of Australian magnesite and discuss some of the new projects underway that look set to restore the sector's former glory.
Australia hosts some 330m tonnes of economic demonstrated magnesite resources, including 95m tonnes of reserves. The industry is starting to recover from recent slumps in demand and a number of explorers are looking to develop new resources, particularly for Asia-Pacific export markets.
Producers
Queensland
According to the Queensland state government, the Kunwarara deposit in central Queensland is the world's largest known source of ultrafine-grain cryptocrystalline to microcrystalline nodular magnesite and is the only magnesium carbonate mine belonging to Belgian speciality mineral company, Sibelco.
Myrtle Springs magnesite mine. (Calix Mining)
Magnesite was discovered at Kunwarara in 1985 by Queensland Metals Corp. (QMC), which quickly recognised the deposit's refractory grade potential. Kunwarara produced its first magnesite in 1991 under QMC, later renamed Queensland Magnesia Ltd (QMAG). In 2012, QMAG was purchased by Sibelco, in an acquisition underlining the company's long term optimistic view of the market.
QMAG commenced mining at the Yaamba magnesite deposit in September 2010. Together, the Kunwarara and Yaamba mines produced magnesite worth just over Australian dollar (A$) $45m ($33.2m**) in the 2014-15 financial year. Approximately 3m tpa run of mine (ROM) ore is produced from Kunwarara and 1m tpa from Yaamba. In the 2013-14 financial year, QMAG's Queensland operations produced 586,495 tonnes magnesite, rising to 658,562 tonnes in 2014-15.
ROM ore is crushed, scrubbed and screened at the mine site, which has a processing capacity of about 600,000 tonnes. The processed ore is then sent to the Parkhurst processing plant for further beneficiation. Parkurst is one of the world's largest magnesite processing plants, with 340,000 tpa calcination capacity for final products, electrofusion capacity of 32,000 tpa and deadburning capacity of 110,000 tpa.
Fused and deadburned magnesia (FM and DBM) products are supplied to the refractories industry and caustic calcined magnesia (CCM) is supplied for agricultural, metallurgical, paper and environmental applications.
South Australia
Calix Ltd operates the Myrtle Springs mine in the Leigh Creek area of South Australia. The deposit...