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The beach placer iron deposit of Portman Bay, Murcia, SE Spain: the result of 33 years of tailings disposal (1957–1990) to the Mediterranean seaside

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Abstract

Between 1957 and 1990, the Peñarroya Mining and Metallurgical Company (SMMPE) disposed about 60 million tonnes of tailings materials directly to the Mediterranean Sea. A substantial part of it (12.5 Mt) was dragged back by the sea currents progressively infilling the Portman Bay (Murcia, SE Spain), thus making the shoreline advance between 500 and 600 m seaward. The Roberto froth flotation plant processed mineral from manto-type deposits belonging to the Sierra de Cartagena-La Unión lead-zinc district. One of the mineral assemblages present in these deposits comprises greenalite, magnetite, sulfides, carbonates, and silica. Despite that magnetite recovery was undertaken by SMMPE between 1959 and 1967, we estimate that magnetite contained in the tailings hosts a substantial resource that could be as large as 2.3 Mt of iron ore. The ore contains magnetite ± hematite ± siderite. Tidal waves and sea currents led to gravimetric classification of the tailings material, with concentration of the dense iron oxides in the sandy fractions, eventually forming a coastal placer iron deposit. A major problem for magnetic separation is the intimate intergrowth between magnetite, hematite, and siderite. Besides, the sands contain large concentrations of Pb (0.27 %), Zn (0.72 %), and As (559 ppm).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank María José Martínez Sánchez and Carmen Perez Sirvent (Research Group E08-48 on Soil Contamination) from the University of Murcia for helpful information on the Portman Bay. Pablo Higueras and José María Esbrí (UCLM) are thanked for the analytical work on the Portman samples. Bernd Lehman (Editor) is thanked for his review and useful comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ingeniería Minera, Geológica y Cartográfica, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII 52, 30203, Cartagena, Spain

    José Ignacio Manteca

  2. Departamento de Cristalografía y Mineralogía, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    José Ángel López García & Roberto Oyarzun

  3. Exploraciones Mineras SA, Avenida Apoquindo 4775, Oficina 602, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile

    Carlos Carmona

Authors
  1. José Ignacio Manteca
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  2. José Ángel López García
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  3. Roberto Oyarzun
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  4. Carlos Carmona
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to José Ángel López García.

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Editorial handling: B. Lehmann

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Manteca, J.I., López García, J.Á., Oyarzun, R. et al. The beach placer iron deposit of Portman Bay, Murcia, SE Spain: the result of 33 years of tailings disposal (1957–1990) to the Mediterranean seaside. Miner Deposita 49, 777–783 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-014-0511-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-014-0511-x

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