Distribution and Reserve Potential of Titanium-Zirconium Heavy Minerals in Quang an Area, Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam

Abstract

Quang An, Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam, is one of the areas with great heavy-mineral potential. The heavy-mineral ore body distributes along the beach with the width of 300–800 m and the length of about 6,100 m. A total of 4,398 samples were collected vertically in a grid pattern from 585 bore holes covering an area of 2.882 km2. The results indicate that the ore body is in marine-eolian sediments at Late Holocene (\( {\text{mvQ}}_{ 2}^{ 2- 3} \)). Useful heavy minerals were ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene, anatase, zircon and monazite which could be found in the intrusive and other rocks in the region. The total heavy minerals (THM) content in the bulk samples is not so high with average of 1.172%. The heavy mineral grains are small with the size of 0.05–0.25 mm and they are well liberated, rounded to sub-rounded. The average thickness of ore body is about 8.3 m, however, its variation is relatively stable with the coefficient of 39.28%. The average content of TiO2 in ilmenites of 58.02% and ZiO2 in zircons of 60.89% indicate that titanium-zirconium heavy minerals in Quang An area have relatively good quality. The proven reserves of total heavy minerals in study area were determined reliably with about 406.595 thousand tons, of which the measured mineral reserve is 68.177 thousand tons and the indicated mineral reserve is 338.418 thousand tons. This paper deals with the distribution and potential of heavy minerals in the study area in order to promote efficient mineral exploitation and mineral processing.