The Wateranga Project is a proposed mineral sands mining development located in the North Burnett region of Queensland, around 80km south-west of Bundaberg near Wateranga.

The project area lies within a geologically complex zone known to host a range of industrial minerals and heavy mineral sands.

The deposit contains a mix of heavy minerals, including ilmenite, rutile, zircon, feldspar, apatite and magnetite, along with other valuable by-products such as corundum and scandium-bearing minerals.

These materials are commonly used in industries such as pigments, ceramics, electronics, abrasives and advanced alloys.

The project has undergone several periods of evaluation and ownership changes over time and has not yet been fully developed.

The project was suspended after the then owners, Queensland Industrial Minerals, failed to deliver an EIS by November 2010.

Earlier development proposals outlined an open-cut mining operation where mineralised sands would be excavated and processed through on-site separation facilities to recover heavy mineral concentrates for export.

At full development, the project was expected to mine up to about 4.5Mt of ore per year, with processing designed to extract multiple industrial minerals from the same deposit.

Wateranga remains a notable mineral sands prospect in Queensland, reflecting the region’s potential for producing strategic and industrial minerals for both domestic use and international markets.