VRX Silica aims to pioneer a new way forward with its silica sand deposits in Western Australia to support the development of a growing export industry.
Ideas can come from the strangest places at the most unexpected times.
Bruce Maluish, managing director of VRX Silica, read The Economist in 2017 and was struck by an article that could change the course of silica sand production in Australia. The article indicated that China had made silica sand a strategic mineral, which put it in the same category as uranium and rare earth minerals, which have stringent government controls on production.
“I did a bit of research and discovered at that time, many Asian countries had banned or restricted exports of silica sand. They were all concerned about their own domestic supply,” he told Quarry.
“This was in response to the concern that Asia was starting to run out of silica sand. There were a number of articles being published at the time and when you delve into it, you discover that because of the heavy demand by the concrete industry, the glass industry was losing access to sand that is able to be beneficiated to the quality to make glass.
“Asia is running out of sand, but it is also happening in Australia. Not so much in Western Australia and Queensland, but New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia are running into serious problems accessing suitable sand they need for concrete.
“The global squeeze in sand supply, particularly in Asia, has seen a steady price increase to the point where it can handle the shipping cost from Australia. Ten years ago, there was a limited export industry, but there is going to be a sand production industry for export from Australia, and it is going to become quite substantial.”
Many countries and their sand dependent industries have found local resources exhausted or becoming severely restricted.
In 2017, Vietnam banned all exports of silica sand to help preserve existing supplies for its infrastructure projects before lifting it in 2020 with stringent conditions in place for exports.
These scenarios create a conundrum as sand dependent industries search for new suppliers that meet their requirements.
Maluish’s research indicated that the trends of global silica sand supply presented a window of opportunity to become a supplier of high-quality sand.
This was the basis for VRX Silica’s idea.
When Maluish started the search for resources, he had four main criteria in mind: the site had to be in Australia, it had to be a granite-based deposit, it had to be near established infrastructure (including road and rail), and it had to be located on crown land.
If the site is on crown land, access to it would require dealing with the state government, but it would negate the need to deal with potentially multiple landowners. Given the nature of the main applications for silica sand, beach sand and desert sand are both unsuitable sources. Beach sand is predominantly calcium carbonate (shell grit), and desert sands, noted for their rust colouring, tend to be less inert and contain excessive iron.
Maluish found his answer along the Perth plain, which runs from Busselton to Geraldton.
“When I had a look, there were really only two areas that met my criteria, and it had to have those attributes … I started searching, and low and behold, the best location was in our backyard, and we’ve got them both in extensive landholdings at Arrowsmith and nearer to Perth at Muchea,” he said.
Between those two primary silica sand deposits at Arrowsmith North and Muchea and its three other deposits, VRX Silica has a total mineral resource of almost 1.4 billion tonnes. Arrowsmith North and Muchea have been recognised in the initial Australian Critical Minerals Prospectus in 2023 and the subsequent edition in 2024.
Arrowsmith North is on track to be the company’s first operational silica sand mine site, followed by Muchea. Quality testing of Arrowsmith North’s sand has indicated it is suitable for use in the production of automobile glass, flat glass for construction, and container glass. However, as an unexpected bonus for the company, further testing revealed that its sand could meet stringent specifications for high-quality foundry sand.
The foundry market has grown substantially due to improved 3D printing through technology, innovative 3D silica sand printing media and expertise. The technology is now being used in the foundry and casting industries to create highly intricate and complex moulds. Products constructed via 3D printing moulds are used in various industries, including healthcare, aerospace, and construction.
Muchea has an even higher grade of silica sand, which the company expects to be used in producing ultra-clear glass, which is particularly in demand in the solar panel industry.
“What we’ve discovered at Arrowsmith North is we have very high-quality foundry sand, global supplies of which are significantly diminished,” Maluish said.
“The foundry market is a specialised demand and smaller than the glass market. Between sand for flat glass and container glass, Asia uses 140 million tonnes a year with projected steady growth. The number of industries that are associated with glass sand or foundry sand and the investment in those industries in Asia is huge, with a huge capital investment which is dependent on a reliable supply of silica sand.”
However, VRX Silica has been on a long journey navigating an extensive approvals process towards development of its sites to production. Maluish said the company had experienced a steep learning curve as it learned about the industry, the products made from it, and the potential markets.
The company’s most important learnings were in determining the best processing methods, as they attempted to rewrite the rulebook of conventional sand processing.Conversations with metallurgists with experience in the lithium industry have revealed a new processing path for VRX Silica.
Instead of using the separation methods traditionally seen in the sand industry, the company is embarking on making a customised processing plant that uses a flotation method seen within the lithium industry. Patents for this approach have been applied for in Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Korea and the United States of America.
“There are techniques they use to process lithium that apply to processing silica sand. We can take some pretty ordinary sand and turn it into glass-quality sand using these techniques,” Maluish said.
“None of these techniques are particularly noteworthy, but no one has done it with silica sand and our whole process circuit is different to anybody else’s silica sand processing.”
The inclusion of Arrowsmith North and Muchea in the critical minerals prospectus published by Austrade has driven specific interest in the projects.
Among other inquiries, VRX Silica has been approached by Indian companies for glass-making and foundry sand and Indonesian, Saudi Arabian, and Chinese companies for glass-making sand.
Two South Korean foundry industry buyers have signed offtake agreements, which would make it the country’s first and only Australian supplier of foundry sand. A Taiwanese glass manufacturer has also signed for offtake, and many others across the Asia Pacific region are also interested.
As a potentially lucrative aside, while looking at potential downstream opportunities, VRX Silica is investigating the production of high-purity quartz (or HPQ) flour at Muchea. The HPQ product is used in the fast-growing LCD production market, which relies on high-quality flour with stringent size specifications. The company is undertaking further metallurgical test work, process circuit design and investigation of potential markets in Australia and internationally. The Western Australian Government has provided $2 million in matched funding from its Investment Attraction Fund to support the ongoing development of this unique industry.
The Arrowsmith North project is close to receiving the requisite environmental approvals and permitting, and it is likely to be operational relatively soon after.
“It’ll be a six-to-eight-month process to build the plant and, all things being equal, we expect to be in production pretty close to the end of next year,” Maluish said.
It has been a really interesting journey, and I’m thoroughly excited about the next stage as we move through approvals into development and production at Arrowsmith North.” •
For more information, visit vrxsilica.com.au
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