The Watershed mine is a large

open pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of minin ...

mine located about 160 km northwest of

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf C ...

, Australia. Watershed represents one of the largest

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

reserves in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

having estimated reserves of 15.1 million tonnes of ore grading 0.46%

. The mine is owned by Vital Metals who acquired the project in 2005. Watershed was Vital Metals flagship project. At time of its acquisition, the site had yet to complete is pre-feasibility study. Development of the site has proceeded with the assistance of the

Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation The , is a Japanese government Independent Administrative Institution which was created in 2004 when the former Japan National Oil Corporation merged with the former Metal Mining Agency of Japan. See also * Critical mineral raw materials * Ene ...

. In September 2013, the mine was eventually granted permission to proceed from the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection. Access to the mine is via a track leading off the

Peninsula Developmental Road The Peninsula Developmental Road (PDR) runs from Lakeland to Weipa. It is the main road transport link within Cape York Peninsula and to the rest of the Australian mainland. The segment from Weipa Town to south of the town is within the Rio ...

. Or from the mine will be trucked to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and exported to Japan, the US and Korea. In May 2018, Vital announced the sale of Watershed to Tungsten Mining NL for $15 million cash.https://www.miningnews.net/m-a/news/1337275/watershed-moment-for-vital-as-project-sold-to-tungsten-mining

Geology

The deposit is located amongst metamorphosed sediments of the Hodgkinson Formation. Tungsten is found along a 3,000 m stretch of

scheelite Scheelite is a calcium tungstate mineral with the chemical formula Ca W O4. It is an important ore of tungsten (wolfram). Scheelite is originally named after Swedish chemist K. Scheele (1742-1786). Well-formed crystals are sought by collectors a ...

References

External links

Vital Metals Watershed Project
Department of Environment and Heritage Protection {{DEFAULTSORT:Watershed Mine Tungsten mines in Australia Mines in Queensland Buildings and structures in Far North Queensland