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Location: 11 km NE from Moramanga, Madagascar
Ambatovy Immeuble Tranofitaratra 7ème étage Rue Ravoninahitriniarivo AnkorondranoAntananarivoMadagascar101
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Ambatovy Joint Venture is comprised of of two companies: Ambatovy Minerals S.A. (AMSA) and Dynatec Madagascar S.A. (DMSA). AMSA is the holder of the mining title and operates the Mine Site and pipeline, and DMSA manages the Plant Site and all the activities related to it.
The Ambatovy orebody consists of two large, thick, weathered ultramafic lateritic nickel deposits located approximately 3 km apart. The regional geological setting is a north-south belt of basic gneisses and migmatites, which are part of the high- grade metamorphic rocks underlying the eastern two- thirds of Madagascar. The dominant feature of the Ambatovy resource is the Antampombato Complex, a large intrusive that cuts the metamorphic rocks. The intrusive is composed of gabbroic to syenitic rocks with two small outer ultramafic bodies rimming the intrusive. Exploration suggests that the complex represents multiple, magmatic intrusions that commenced with ultramafic intrusive, then was followed by gabbroic intrusives and terminated with the more felsic intrusive. The Ambatovy Deposit occurs towards the southern margin of the complex and is approximately 3 km x 2.4 km and oriented in a west-northwest to east-southeast direction. A northwest trending gabbroic intrusive cuts the Ambatovy Deposit resulting in three sub- blocks: Ambatovy West, Central and Southeast. The Analamay Deposit is located at the eastern margin of the complex and is approximately 4 km x 2.8 km, oriented north-south and it also is divided into sub- blocks known as Analamay North, Central and South. Ambatovy West is cut by numerous block faults that strike northwest/southeast with a conjugate set, striking northeast/southwest. Evidence indicates that faulting continued during the laterisation. The Deposits cover an area of about 1,300 ha, and range in thickness from 20 m to 100 m, with the average thickness being approximately 40 m. Within the lateritic profile, there are three distinct zones: - Ferricrete is the uppermost layer, and forms an extremely hard, coherent crust of iron oxides up to 3 m thick and acts as a deterrent to mechanical erosion. - Limonite, referred to locally as ferralite, constitutes more than 90% of the economic grade nickel mineralisation and is predominately a spongy mass with iron concentrations of 40–50%, predominately in goethite. Enriched nickel and cobalt grades are largely achieved by depletion of other elements through the weathering process, rather than additions to the system. The nickel grade of the laterite is influenced by the nickel content of the underlying bedrock. - Saprolite lies at the base of the lateritic zone, on top of the bedrock.
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