Magnetite Content as a Basis to Estimate Other Major Heavy Mineral Content in the Sand Deposit Along the Nizampatnam Coast, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh

Taking advantage of the sympathetic variation of magnetite content with that of (i) total heavy minerals, (ii) ilmenite, and (iii) pyriboles in sand samples drawn from the Nizampatnam deposit along the south Andhra coast, regression equations relating magnetite with others are calculated. Using the wt. % of magnetite and these equations, the wt.% of total heavies, ilmenite and Pyriboles are calculated, which closely agree with the observed data, within a difference of 5%. The content of other important but minor heavy minerals like zircon, monazite and rutile need to be estimated by separation and microscopic grain-counting of only two fractions (i.e.) + 200 and -200 mesh-sizes, since these minor minerals are confined in these two fractions. By this method, consumption of heavy liquid and microscopic grain-counting can be substantially reduced by 70%, without sacrificing the accuracy for estimation of reserves of heavy minerals in this deposit.