Quartz sands with heavy minerals were documented within the Polish economic zone of the Baltic Sea – in the Bay of Pomerania – in the north-east part of the Odra Bank. The documentation was the result of the longstanding and multistage geological studies, carried out in order to explore geological structure of the Bay of Pomerania and to search useful minerals.
The main useful components in Ławica Odrzana deposit are heavy minerals such as: ilmenite (FeTiO3), rutile (TiO2), zircon (ZrSiO4) and garnets (Fe, Ca, Mg, Mn)3(Al, Fe, Cr)2(SiO4)3. The percentage contribution of particular minerals in the total amount of heavy minerals in the deposit is: garnets – 32%, ilmenite – 31%; zircon – 5%; leucoxene – 4%; rutile – 4%.
The useful components from Ławica Odrzana deposit, exploited and separated, could be used for colorants and coat production, for production of high resistance steel, in biomedical engineering, in ceramic and glass industry, in nuclear power and for production of abrasives and fibers. Quartz sands remaining after heavy minerals separation might be used in glass industry, for production of moulding sands and in building industry.
Prepared by: Krzysztof Szamałek
Table 1. List of sands with heavy minerals deposits – thousand tonnes