Metal Mining - Mining and Concentration of Ilmenite and Associated Minerals at Trail Ridge, Fla.

LMENITE, rutile, zircon, and other heavy minerals are found in small amounts in the sand that covers most of Florida. Small enriched deposits occur on the beaches and coastal dunes. One beach deposit east of Jacksonville was worked during World War I and another near Vero Beach during World War 11. Both ceased operation when the resumption of imports reduced prices. Early in World War II reduction of rutile imports made a domestic source of the mineral necessary to maintain the expansion of armaments. Explorations made near Jacksonville discovered a relatively large body of low-grade ore about 10 miles inland from the beaches. A plant installed by Rutile Mining Co. of Florida using both flotation and tables encountered difficulties because of low plant capacity and organic slimes in the ore. In 1944 Humphreys Gold Corp. solved the problem of concentrating the low-grade ore by using the newly developed Humphreys spiral concentrator and by mining with a hydraulic dredge. This combination of low cost mining and concentration permitted the plant to continue operation in competition with foreign ores when imports were resumed following the war. The success of the Jacksonville operation renewed interest in Florida as a source of titanium. An extensive survey of the state was made by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Inc., under the direction of J. L. Gillson in 1945 to 1946. Sampling was carried on by drive pipe drilling to depths of 20 to 25 ft. Encouraging values were discovered near the location of the present Trail Ridge mine, 50 miles southwest of Jacksonville, near the town of Starke. The United States Bureau of Mines was interested in exploring for heavy minerals in Florida, and on the recommendation of both the state geologist of Florida and of Du Pont geologists, drilled deeper where marginal indications were found on Trail Ridge. In 1947 it was discovered that sufficiently higher values occurred at depth to make the deposit commercial. The orebody at Trail Ridge is a long sand deposit averaging about 1 mile in width and 35 ft in depth. It is approximately 1 1/2 miles wide at the north end of the portion now being worked, tapering to a blunt point 3 miles to the south. The ore reaches a maximum depth of 65 ft near the center and feathers out into barren sand at the edges. The ground surface is relatively flat and is covered with vegetation including pine, scrub oak, palmetto, and occasionally in swampy areas, cypress. The remain of a dense woody growth underlies and marks the bottom of the Ore 'One. It is difficult to drill through this layer, but in some cases where it is less than 5 ft thick it has been possible to drive through the wood. Sand lying below is coarser than that in the ore zone and contains no values. The wood layer consists of unconsolidated carbonized fragments of branches and other forest trash associated with a considerable amount of ar-