The mineral chemistry, ore textures and styles of mineralisation are discussed for each ore mineral. Both, the mixed sediment-/volcanic-hosted non sulphide ore body and the remnants of volcanic-hosted sulphide mineralisation are known from abundant drill core and recently exposed non-sulphide mineralisation in the open pit. Remnants of a primary sulphide mineralisation are mainly preserved in the felsic metavolcanic rocks and their hyaloclastic eqivalents, which structurally underlie the central portion of the supergene ore body at depth.

The felsic metavolcanic rocks are also exposed some hundreds meters west of the Skorpion open pit, displaying disseminated pyrite mineralisation or forming gossans. The most famous gossan, which is located west of the Skorpion ore body, is the so called 'discovery outcrop'.

Within the footwall of the Skorpion non-sulphide zinc ore body disseminated to semi-massive primary pyrite sphalerite mineralisation has been intersected at a depth of 250 m and 300 m, respectively, which features a 25-m-wide zone grading 0.6 % Zn and 0.35 % Cu.

For completeness it has to be mentioned that some minor primary sulphides have been found in metasiliciclastic rocks but also in marble in the northern extension of the Skorpion ore body about 1.5 km north of the Skorpion open pit, e.g. borehole SD104, at a depth between 550 m and 700 m in unaltered fresh equivalents of the Skorpion metasiliciclastic host rocks and marble, respectively.

Skorpion is the open pit where the ore is mined by huge double-storey tip trucks, bulldozers and front-end loaders.

The ore deposit of Skorpion Zinc is unique as it is a primary oxide/silicate/carbonate zinc deposit, which cannot be concentrated by flotation. The absence of sulphur offers an advantage in that no sulphur or sulphuric acid disposal is required. The ore is leached directly in sulphuric acid to produce zinc sulphate. It is not possible to directly electrowin zinc from the sulphate solution due to the high chlorine and florine levels, and other impurities contained in the Skorpion Zinc ore, which cause anode and cathode corrosion, and cathode stripping problems. Solvent extraction provides a buffer against chlorine and florine, and effectively prevents any carry-over into the purified electrolyte solution. The use of solvent extraction for zinc simplifies the overall treatment route, compared to conventional roast-leach-electrowinning circuits. The purified and extracted zinc is plated as sheets by electrowinning, which finally takes the shape of 25kg ingots after the casting process.