Mineralogical Characterisation of Beach Placers at Kantiaghar in Ganjam District, Odisha

Abstract

This paper details with the beach placer deposit of Kantiaghar area of Ganjam district, Odisha. In Odisha, Atomic Mineral Division (AMD) has explored a stretch of about 150 km from south of river Mahanadi to Orissa-Andhra Pradesh border. Here the potential deposits posses a grade range from 5 to 30%. The heavy minerals are present in the beach and dunes around Kantiaghar, which is in the NE of Rusikulya river mouth. The prospect extends in NE-SW direction having a width of about 1000m. Heavy minerals occur up to a depth of 10 m. A total of 12 samples were collected at an interval of half km along the shore of Bay of Bengal. The heavy minerals are mostly of 170 micron size. The average heavy mineral content of Kantiaghar beach is 67%. The heavy minerals constitute sillimanite, ilmenite, garnet, rutile, monazite and zircon. Along with these minerals trace amounts of magnetite and hornblende is also present. Leucoxene and anatase are reported from this beach. The average percentage of sillimanite is 50.15%, ilmenite is 19.47%, garnet is 13.5%, and rutile is 3.7%, monazite is 1.21% and zircon is 0.93%, the number percentage of the heavy minerals clearly shows that the concentration of sillimanite is high. Based on field relationships and mineralogy it can be interpreted that the river systems draining the Eastern Ghat, their metamorphic associates and basic intrusives account for these deposits.