Recent discoveries of extensive mineral sand deposits in the eastern part of the Eucla Basin, South Australia, have generated much interest in their potential as a new world-class resource for heavy minerals. A detailed mineral characterisation. study of a range of ilmenite concentrates from the Eucla Basin was undertaken using automated electron microprobe-based mineral mapping and quantitative analysis methods. Results showed that the ilmenite concentrates have a high bulk TiO2 content (>60 wt.%) consistent with a mineral assemblage dominated by the hydrated, Ti-rich alteration phase pseudorutile (Fe2-x3+Ti3O9-3x(OH)(3x)). Minor accessory phases (<10-20%) consisted of rutile (both primary and secondary), zircon, aluminosilicates (staurolite, tourmaline, sillimanite), quartz, monazite, goethite and spinels while impurities within the pseudorutile grains included MnO (average 1.10 wt.%), MgO (0.27 wt.%), Al2O3 (0.51 wt.%), SiO2 (0.84 wt.%) and minor Cr2O3 (0.07 wt.%). The mineralogy of the concentrates and the minor element composition of the ilmenite grains indicate that they could be upgraded to synthetic rutile by the Becher process. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.