Distribution of Magnetic Susceptibility of Natural Iron Sand in the Sarmi Coast Area

Iron sand, a raw source of magnetic materials, is known to exist in a particular area in Indonesia. However, researchers mostly focused on the iron sand source from the western coast of Sumatera and the southern coast of Java while the northern coast of Papua had not been yet identified. In this study, iron sand samples were collected from the coastal area of Sarmi located on the northern coast of the Papua Province between these geographic positions 1°47′52.30″S - 138°40′27.60″E and 1°57′57.50″S - 138°57′7.60″E. The results show that samples from Tor River estuary had the highest mass-specific magnetic susceptibility values, varying approximately from 3000 to 4000 × 10⁻⁸ m³/kg. Contrarily, samples from the Verkame area had a much lower mass-specific magnetic susceptibility, varying approximately from 200 to 600 × 10⁻⁸ m³/kg unexpectedly. The mineral and magnetic structure confirms the presence of iron oxide minerals in iron sands from the Tor River estuary. (paper)