Publication
Identification and Economic Potentiality of Mineral Sands Resources of Hatiya Island, Bangladesh
Publisher:
MDPI AG
Date:
12-11-2022
DOI:
10.3390/MIN12111436
Abstract: Hatiya is the second largest island of Bangladesh and is situated near the Meghna River estuary in the central coastal zone of Bangladesh. This island hosts a few scenic beaches with a huge deposit of mineral sands. Representative mineral sand s les from various beaches of this island were collected during the year 2019, and analyzed for different mineralogical contents using state-of-the-art techniques, such as WD-XRF, XRD, SEM and EDX. This study determined various mineralogical contents, such as SiO2 (73.58%), micas (40.30%), Al2O3 (12.13%), TiO2 (0.56%), MgO (1.31%), Fe2O3 (4.71%), K2O (3.1%), Na2O (1.92%), CaO (3.16%), some earth metals, and heavy minerals, such as ilmenite (14.77%), garnet (11.02%), rutile (14.94%), magnetite (15.26%), and zircon (13.63%), were identified in the analyzed s les. It is suggested that the studied sand can be utilized as a raw material in the glass industry, due to its high SiO2 content. The approximate prices of heavy and light minerals, such as garnet (USD 75–USD 210/mt), ilmenite (USD 110/mt), magnetite (USD 84/mt), rutile (USD 840/mt), zircon (USD 1050/mt) and micas (USD 109/mt), some oxides such as K2O (USD 350–400/mt), CaO (USD 350–450/mt), Al2O3 (USD 1000-USD 1300/mt), TiO2 (USD 4000–4500/mt), and Fe2O3 (USD 650–1500/mt), and some other heavy metals (Rb, Th, Ba, V, Cr, Cs, Ni and Co), indicates a great economic value of the sand of the Hatiya Island beaches. This study recommends that Hatiya Island’s minerals should be mined responsibly and used effectively, to enhance the nation’s economy.
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