Chromite Is the Goal, But We’ll Take the Zircon, Too

It’s the chromite in the black sand deposits that’s the primary goal of Industrial Minerals Ltd, but another mineral found here—zircon—is valuable, too.

In fact, zircon has such a wide variety of uses and unique qualities—including hardness and durability—that its value is skyrocketing as its supply is dwindling, said Joe Drew, Oregon Resources Director of Geology.

“Zircon is one of those minerals that has the world scratching and clawing to get as much of it as they can,” Drew said. “Resources are dwindling and demand is steadily increasing. Because it’s becoming more and more rare, of course the prices are going up.”

A few years ago zircon would fetch about $900 a ton. Today that price has jumped to about $1,600. “Zircon certainly carries a premium on price, but there’s just much less of it here,” Drew noted.


Coos Bay area zircon

The world seems to be running out of easily accessed deposits for zircon, a mineral that has many uses depending on its type and quality. The zircon found in the deposits near Coos Bay is fit mostly for use as foundry sand, according to Drew.

After literally millions of years developing underground, zircon comes in many colors including red, pink, brown, beige, yellow, hazel, black or even colorless.

The world’s biggest producer of zircon is Iluka Resources Ltd., an Australian company based in Perth on Australia’s west coast with a market share of about 33 percent. Iluka also has mining and processing operations in Virginia.

Historically the demand for zircon was dominated by the European ceramics industry. But today, thanks to its tremendous economic boom, China now buys 40 percent of the world’s zircon supply, up from only 3 percent in 1990. The majority of the zircon in China, like the rest of the world, is used for making ceramic tiles.

Based on the fact that emerging economies are growing so quickly and only starting to experience a need for zircon, Drew and officials from Iluka see the demand for the mineral only getting larger.

“A few new deposits of zircon are coming online, but not nearly enough to meet the demand,” Drew said.