From dry heavy minerals mining to a wet dredge mining operation: A succesfull story in Brazil

• Introduction
• Mining approach
• Guaju mine in Brazil – Change of operation
• Dredge mining operation
• The dredger
• Training
• An example of social commitment
• Acknowledgement

Introduction
Many ‘Heavy Minerals (HM)’ deposits, consisting of minerals such as Rutile (TiO2), Ilmenite (FeO..TiO), Zircon (ZrO2) and Monazite (rare earth minerals) are of placer origin, and are often found in either beach or in dune deposits. These minerals are concentrated in a matrix of sandy material which is the cause that besides referring to HM-mining, we also define this activity as Sand-mining. Due to the deposit characteristics, dredging is often the most feasible way to extract this material and approximately 90% of HM mining is done in a dredge operation. Such deposits are located at current and/or paleo sea sides at different locations in the world, including the Mozambique Coastline, north of Durban – South Africa, Madagascar, different sites near Perth and on the other side of Australia in Stratbrooke Island as well as in their Murray Basin, on the coast of the Indian states Kerala, Orissa and Tamul Nadu, Sierra Leone, in the USA near Starke, Florida and in Virginia, etc.

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