GSV Report 97 - Limestone resources in Victoria
 |
| |||||
Product description:Download The downloadable version of this report is supplied in PDF format (5.4MB). Abstract The cement manufacturing industry is the major user of limestone in Victoria, consuming about 85% of the annual production of limestone in the State. It is followed by the construction industry and agricultural uses. Relatively low volume limestone consuming industries in the State are lime production, paper manufacture, glass making, steel making industry and producers of rubber, paint and chemicals. There are a number of limestone deposits in Victoria suitable in size and grade for use in many industrial applications. However, deposits with high quality and large reserves are rare in areas close to Melbourne. Two cement plants in the Geelong area obtain their limestone from quarries at Batesford and Waurn Ponds. Estimated reserves of limestone available to the Blue Circle Southern Cement Ltd plant at Waurn Ponds are sufficient to supply the cement works for at least 40 years. In the case of the Batesford deposit diversion of the Moorabool River will increase the available reserves of limestone to the Australian Cement Limited cement plant from 15 to at least 40 years supply. The Traralgon cement plant of Australian Cement Limited uses limestone from a quarry at Merrimans Creek. The kiln feed for this latter plant is prepared by selective quarrying and careful blending of materials quarried. Reserves of limestone at Merrimans Creek are adequate to meet the needs of the small Traralgon plant for at least 25 years. Other limestone consuming industries, with the exceptions of glass manufacturing and some chemical industries which consume imported very high purity materials, obtain their limestone from the local producers. The major supplier of high-grade limestone and lime in Victoria is the David Mitchell Estate Ltd. This company operates two limestone quarries in Victoria, one at Lilydale, east of Melbourne, and the other at Rocky Camp north of Buchan. The Lilydale deposit is the only known crystalline limestone deposit of commercial size in close proximity to the Melbourne market. It has been continuously quarried for over a century. The limestone quarried is in part dolomitic and more than half of the stone produced is not suitable for applications demanding high-grade limestone. There is a need for development of an alternative source of high-grade limestone at least for supplementing the existing production from the Lilydale quarry. The Buchan limestone deposits are the most extensive crystalline limestone deposits known in the State. The deposit at Rocky Camp is currently quarried for high-grade limestone and is used in a number of industrial applications. A similar limestone at Bindi to the west of Buchan is of high potential as a possible limestone source. Palaeozoic limestones most likely to support viable mining and processing operations are located at Boola/Tyers, Rocky Camp (Murrindal) and Walkerville. These belong to Development Class 1 based on location, resource size and mass-fraction data. Many of the Palaeozoic limestones in Victoria are polymodal in character. The potential for manufacturing precipitated CaCO3 may be limited (to the Coopers Creek and Murrindal limestones), while the potential applications for ground CaCO3 appears limited to low-grade fillers and coaters for paper, and to fillers in a wide range of polymers. Some of the Tertiary limestones in the west of the State near Portland are of reasonably high-grade. The limestone in the area was used as whiting before World War 2, and it has the potential for further uses. Large reserves of dune limestones with high silica in the area between Warnambool and Portland have a reasonable calcium carbonate content and are suitable for use in glass making. Limestone suitable for agricultural use is widespread in the eastern and southern part of Victoria, and is quarried from deposits within or close to the consumption areas in many parts of the State. The use of resources close to major markets is facing ever-increasing pressure from competing land use. Bibliographic reference Inan, K., Summons, T.G. & King R.L., 1992. Limestone Resources of Victoria. Geological Survey of Victoria Report 97. | ||||||
