Heavy minerals in beach sands of Gopalpur and Paradeep along Orissa coastline, east cost of India

Abstract

Selective sand samples were collected from Gopalpur and Paradeep beaches and studied for their heavy mineral assemblage. Beachsands of both the areas contain heavy minerals like sillimanite, ilmenite, garnet, pyroxene, rutile, sphene, biotite, hornblende, zircon and monazite. At Gopalpur, the percentage of concentration of sillimanite is the highest followed by limonite, garnet, pyroxene, rutile, sphene, biotite, hornblende, zircon and monazite. At Paradeep, almost similar trend was observed with some exceptions, i.e., concentration of pyroxene and biotite is more here. The mineral sphene was absent at Paradeep, whereas tourmaline was negligible at Gopalpur. Higher grade percentage of heavies at Gopalpur is linked with many favourable factors and is being mined by IREL whereas low grade percentage at Paradeep discourages mining.