Clearing the first hurdle in a feasibility study on its Natashquan deposit in Quebec, Tiomin Resources (ME) has produced a clean concentrate of heavy minerals, including iron, ilmenite, zircon and garnet.
The concentrate was derived, without silting or slimes, from an 12.1-ton sample of sand grading 10% heavy minerals.
The company is encouraged by the ease with which the sample was separated at the Centre for Mineral Research in Quebec City. The gravity separation process is free of chemicals.
President Oliver Lennox-King says the concentrate will be analyzed by four laboratories around the world for mineral quality. Representatives from the labs will meet in Quebec City in mid-April to discuss the results and come up with a detailed processing flow sheet for the operation.
Tiomin plans to begin test-marketing these products in the second quarter of 1993.
With an estimated onshore resource of 1.3 billion tons averaging 6% heavies, the Natashquan deposit is one of the largest known deposits of heavy mineral sands.
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