Beach Placer: Rich in Minerals

The coast of the Maldives has yellow, white and blue sandy beaches. Under the scorching sun, the white sandy beach along the coast resembles a fine snow scene under the scorching sun.

At night, on the blue sandy beach of Vado Island, the stars are scattered in the sea, forming a blue galaxy with the beach, like the Milky Way lost from the sky, walking through it is like being in the vast universe.

The pale pink beaches of the Bahamas, intertwined with the turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean, are inked like a "dream paradise".

The orange sandy beaches of the Maltese Islands are like orange soda, indulging in the beauty of nature.

The wonder of colorful sandy beaches is not an intentional creation of nature, nor is it accomplished in a day. In fact, the color of the beach is mainly affected by its composition, the beach sediment. The colored sediment is repeatedly washed away by the waves hitting the shore, and it is eroded into colored mineral sand on the beach.

When a large number of red corals on the seabed are washed into fine powder by the sea water and merged with the fine white sand on the shore, a romantic pink beach is formed. When the abundance of quartz minerals gathered on the beach is high, the beach will appear as white as snow, or when the debris of marine life such as coral shellfish is broken and eroded by the sea water, it can also form a white beach.

During the daily transportation and panning of the waves, the yellow quartz with the most extensive source and containing iron and other minerals is left behind, forming the most widely distributed and most common yellow sand beach.

The sand of the blue beach is not blue, but the bioluminescence phenomenon caused by plankton on the coast at night, also known as "sea fire". The intensity of "sea fire" is also a "warning light" for judging the marine environment. Excessive plankton will cause biological pollution and damage the marine ecological environment.

The Hawaiian Islands are a volcanic island and a famous volcanic activity area in the Pacific Ocean. The volcano spews hot lava and condenses into volcanic rock, which is disintegrated and broken by icy sea water. The volcanic rock is rich in dark minerals such as iron and magnesium, which are washed and eroded. It turns into fine black sand, forming a silent black sand beach. When black magnetite is oxidized to brick-red iron oxide, a warm red sand beach is formed; when the magmatic rock is rich in green olivine, the beach takes on a fresh green color. The colorful beaches of the Hawaiian Islands are not only beautiful, so they are also called "coastal sand mines".

Minerals in Beach Placer Gold

Panning gold from placer, and the sinking is gold. As the pouring area of the power of nature, the coastal area is full of treasures and hidden gold. There have been several gold-rush booms in history, and the origin of the city's name "San Francisco" also confirms the history of coastal gold rush. Placer gold is often in the form of short films or granules, and is enriched in the sand layers of the beach. It is widely distributed, has large reserves and is easy to mine.

Learn more about gold gravity separation equipment.

Quartz

The most abundant mineral in the coastal placer is quartz, which can be processed into semiconductor chips. Consider that the amount of sand is so huge that if it is developed, the whole world can achieve "silicon freedom". The chips are made of a single-crystal silicon-based material, while the quartz in the sand is mostly silicon dioxide. First, carbon is used to extract silicon from sand and quartz, purify it into high-purity amorphous silicon and polycrystalline silicon, and then convert it into monocrystalline silicon through a specific technology before it can be used as a chip material.

Magnetite, ilmenite, zircon, monazite and other useful associated minerals can also be sorted out from sea sand.

Magnetite

As the most important and common black iron ore, magnetite is mainly composed of iron tetroxide and has metallic or semi-metallic luster. The fine magnetite particles are enriched by the sea to form black sand beaches.

And when the magnetite is oxidized into brick-red iron oxide, the beach slowly turns red.

When the iron element in magnetite is replaced by aluminum, titanium and other elements isomorphically, it will be called bauxite, ilmenite and other names. Ilmenite is also an important coastal placer, often produced in conjunction with magnetite, lead-grey to black, and also forms black sand beaches. Ilmenite is often used as a "space metal" in advanced fields such as aerospace and modern weapons.

Learn more about titanium ore processing methods and equipment.

Zircon

Zircon is a gem-like mineral comparable to diamond. It is called "hyacinth stone" in Japan, and it is also the birthstone of December. But not all kinds of zircon can be worn as jewelry: "low-type zircon" with low hardness, low density and low dispersion is radioactive and is not suitable for wearing. Zircon is the main raw material for extracting metal zirconium and hafnium, and the extracted zirconium sponge is an important raw material for the structure and cladding in nuclear reactors.

Monazite

The name of monazite sounds a bit lonely, but it is actually very lonely in the process of crystallization and mineralization. It often exists in the form of single crystal, the color is brown-red or yellow-brown, and its chemical properties are stable. Monazite is one of the main minerals of rare earth metal ore. It can be used for industrial extraction of rare earth elements. It is widely used in electronics, petrochemical, metallurgy, machinery, energy, light industry, environmental protection, agriculture and other fields, and has great potential for development.

Where to find beach placer deposits?

Beach placer deposits have a variety of "invaluable" associated minerals, so where to find them?

Beach placer deposits are distributed all over the world, but due to the influence of coastal landforms, material sources and formation processes, the plane distribution is extremely uneven.

To find these treasures, be sure to remember the secret codes "estuary" and "bay", because the most favorable coastal landforms for the formation of coastal placer are the estuary and bay area.

Lovers of beautiful and exotic minerals.