Project Details
Keysbrook Project
Keysbrook is planned to be Olympia Resources first heavy mineral sands mine commencing production in 2009.
The Keysbrook deposit is situated approximately 70 kms South of Perth in Western Australia (WA).
The heavy mineral is contained within surface Bassendean Sand dunes with an average ore thickness of approximately 2 metres. The dunal ore has no overburden, is low in clay and contains practically no rock. The reserves of heavy mineral are given below:
| Reserve Summary – Keysbrook HM Project (November 2006) | ||||||||||||||
| Category | Ore Tonnes (Mt) | % HM | % Slime | Contained HM Tonnes (Mt) | HMC Tonnes (Mt) | |||||||||
| Proven | 42.7 | 2.7% | 8.3% | 1.145 | 1.160 | |||||||||
The mineral suite as determined from pilot plant testing is:
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Pilot Plan Test Results
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| Standard Ilmenite | 25.9% |
| High TiO2 Ilmenite | 15.4% |
| Leucoxene + Rutile* | 43.4% |
| Zircon | 11.0% |
| Trash | 4.3% |
* Rutile is less than 2%
The Keysbrook deposit is situated in the southwest of WA. Southwest WA is one of the worlds great mineral sands provinces where mineral sands mining has been carried out for 50 years by companies such as Cable Sands, Iluka Resources and more recently, Doral.
The Keysbrook dune deposit differs mineralogically from the typical strand mineral sands deposits in southwest WA in that it is higher in leucoxene and zircon and lower in ilmenite. As leucoxene and zircon command a higher sales price than ilmenite the value of products sold is higher than normal in southwest WA. The high value of the mineral suite and the surface sandy nature of the Keysbrook ore makes it attractive to mine.
See the Keysbrook Deposit Plan to the right.
See the Keysbrook Section to the right
Metallurgical testwork has been carried out at the Perth Laboratories of Ammtec Ltd from which wet concentration and dry separation plant flowsheets have been developed to treat the Keysbrook ore. The flowsheets developed are similar to those currently in use in WA with some adaptations to treat the higher leucoxene content of the ore. The testwork gave the following recovery of product from the ore into final product.
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Mineral Recovery to Product (%)
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| Mineral | Wet Concentrator | Separation Plant | Combined |
| Ilmenite | 95% | 95% | 90% |
| High TiO2 Ilmenite | 80% | 90% | 72% |
| Leucoxene | 80% | 90% | 72% |
| Zircon | 95% | 80% | 76% |
Olympia has signed off-take sales agreements for the sale of all the titanium minerals produced from the Keysbrook mine to EI DuPont de Nemours (DuPont). DuPont is the world’s largest producer of titanium dioxide pigment. The contracts represent approximately 70% of the sales revenue from Keysbrook and will include the sales of titanium products ilmenite, high TiO2 ilmenite and leucoxene. In addition, all of the zircon to be produced from keysbrook has been presold.
The Environmental Protection Authority recommended conditional approval for the Olympia Resources Limited Keysbrook Mineral Sands Project on 29 October 2007. Approval would be subject to Olympia meeting a list of operating conditions including restrictions on noise, dust and some remnant vegetation clearing.
If the recommendation is accepted by the Minister, Olympia will seek local government approval to begin development of the project. The Company is confident it can meet EPA conditions and establish a successful operation, commencing mining in 2009.
Last Update: 29-Nov-07
