Assessment and Management of Feldspar Deposits at Noppitam District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province

Abstract

This research is aimed to study geology of Noppitam sodium feldspar bearing alaskite, production cost, raw material transportation cost, mineral processing cost and goods delivery cost in 2013 and used for mine design and mine optimization. Mine life was also estimated. Thestudy area covers 7 mining concessions; both operating and on-renewing concessions. The inferred reserves was estimated to be around 82 million metric tons with 1.52 : 1 break even stripping ratio. The grade of mineral would be produced up to the customer specification as lightness (L*) ≥ 80, red/green (a*) ≤ 2, yellow/blue (b*) ≤ 20, refractoriness ≤ 65% at the price 850 baht/metric ton (F.O.B.) at Thasala port. At the market yearly growth rate 5%, mine life would be 40 years.