|
Production The source of GMA Garnet’s superior product is from its extensive operations and garnet bearing dune sands on Australia's mid-west coast. Through a unique geological history of erosion and deposition, these dune sands contain the highest quality garnet available. The stepping stones to that location are through Western Australia's capital city of Perth, travelling 400km up north to GMA Garnet’s dry processing and ship-out point in Geraldton and beyond to Port Gregory . The scale of mining and a state-of-the-art refining process with total quality control have made GMA Garnet the leading supplier of a product that is in growing demand across industrialised countries globally. The demand for GMA Garnet is diversified. It includes the use of GMA Garnet as a blast medium in the surface preparation industry to clean ship hulls, and service ships, for the construction of expertly manufactured trains, the laying of record breaking pipe lines and the fabrication and maintenance of giant on-shore and off-shore structures for the Oil & Gas Industry.Technologically advance industries such as major aircraft manufacturing plants in the world use GMA Garnet for precision waterjet cutting of their most sophisticated components. |
|
|
||
|
GMA Garnet’s operations, located a few kilometres inland have now produced more than a million tonnes of highly refined, non-toxic industrial garnet from its mining and wet-processing operations. |
 |
|
|
||
|
Dump trucks take the ore to stockpiles and feed hoppers at GMA Garnet’s wet plant on a 24 hour daily production schedule. The state-of-the-art operations at GMAs Geraldton plant run 24 hours a day producing over 300.000 tons of standard heavy mineral concentrate a year. |
 |
|
|
||
|
In the wet concentrator, spiral classifiers which use water and gravity-induced centrifugal forces, separate garnet from lighter trash minerals and shell sands while hydrosisers use upward flowing water and controlled slurry density to lift out fine minerals. The garnet concentrate travels on a vacuum filter belt through several stages of final washing with fresh water to ensure the product has very low chloride levels, well below internationally accepted levels. |
|
|
|
||
|
Strict sampling and laboratory testing are conducted for consistent quality of the new semi-refined garnet concentrate that will then be stockpiled at the plant site. |
|
|
|
|
||
|
What emerges from the wet plant along the garnet conveyer and pipe lines are garnet concentrate along with the separated tailing sands. |
 |
|
|
||
|
The tailing sands are transported back to replace the mined dunes which are re-shaped to natural contours and covered with the original topsoil for rehabilitation with seed and natural growth. |
 |
|
|
||
|
The stockpiled garnet is transported 100km south to Geraldton port and GMA Garnet's extensive dry processing and despatch facilities. |
 |
|
|
||
|
Incoming garnet concentrate feeds through natural gas-fired rotary dryers and onto rare earth magnetic separators to remove any final impurities. Non-magnetic minerals spin off in an outer cut, separated garnet forms a middle stream, and the more magnetic minerals fall below. |
 |
|
|
The now pure and refined garnet concentrate passes through a series of vibrating screens which grade the garnet into various size ranges. |
 |
|
|
||
|
Strict sampling and laboratory tests are performed again for garnet purity, size analysis, chlorides and conductivity to guarantee exceptional and consistent high standards of this superior product. |
 |
|
|
||
|
The end line of the dry processing plant is the packaging section with automatic twin-spout bagging machines filling 25kg packs supplying to robotic palletising equipment. Pure loose garnet flows into 2 tonne bulk bags where all of these are stored in warehouses at the plant and in GMA Garnet’s Logistic Centre in Perth, where the packaged product is shipped out in containers to GMA Garnet’s world markets. |
 |
|
|
|
||
|
Bulk garnet is stockpiled in GMA Garnet’s large storage sheds in Geraldton port for shipping out in loose bulk loads to GM Garnet’s regional bulk warehouses and packaging plants across the globe. |
 |
|
|
GMA Garnet takes pride in the fact that its product is proven to be the highest quality natural abrasive and cutting medium available in the modern era. The company is proud that it can deliver any amount of highly refined garnet anywhere, anytime - and constant product availability to back that claim. The proof of GMA Garnet's success follows a well-defined path. It can be seen in the quality of its deposits, the mineral-rich dunes near Port Gregory. It is demonstrated in the superbly-controlled refining and production facilities all down the line and in the endorsement of its product by an ever-growing stream of users across the globe. The entire production process from mining to processing and administration is certified under ISO 9001:2008 (Management Systems) and ISO 14001:2004 (Environment Management Systems), ensuring the highest standard of quality in respect of mineral purity and meeting stringent requirements of ISO 11126-10:2000E for chloride and free silica content. |
 |