Mining company Kenmare Resources has suspended all operations at the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in northern Mozambique following a fatality at the site on Monday 31 August 2020. The mineworker, described as a front-end loader operator, was found dead with crush injuries at a 'wet concentrator plant' on the site. The mine will remain inactive while an investigation is carried out.
A wet concentrator plant at the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in northern Mozambique. Kenmare Resources
The Moma Titanium Minerals Mine extracts titanium in the form of ilmenite and rutile and zirconium in the form of zircon from sand deposits close to the Indian Ocean coast. The area is stripped of topsoil and vegetation and then flooded to create artificial mining ponds. Sand is then dredged from the bottom of these and sent to a series of wet concentration plants where it is sorted by the rejection of larger chunks then sorting the heavier minerals from the lighter sand and clay using gravity. The mining operation targets a dune environment, progressively moving along the coast, with dunes being recontoured behind the moving operation and planted with native vegetation and food crops. About 3% of the sand is removed as usable minerals. The mine is thought to have reserves of about 26 million tonnes of ilmenite, 1.8 million tonnes of zircon and 0.55 million tonnes of rutile, making it the largest titanium deposit currently being worked anywhere in the world. It is expected to remain in operation till about 2120.
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