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Location: 270 km NW from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
19 John Plagis Alex ParkHarareZimbabwe
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The plant is owned 100% by Premier.
GeologyThe geology of Zimbabwe is dominated by Archean rocks which are overlain, in the northwest, by Proterozoic and Phanerozoic metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, in the area of the Project. In this area, phyllites, quartzites and gneisses are the dominant rocks.The host country-rock comprises high-grade, strongly foliated biotite schists and paragneisses of the Tshontanda Formation belonging to the Precambrian Dete Inlier. The formation trends northeast on a regional scale, paralleling the trend of the Kamativi Inlier, and dips steeply to the northwest.MineralisationRHA mine is situated within the multi-commodity Kamativi Tin Belt and occupies a land holding on a low ridge of approximately 850 m long and 300 m wide standing about 120 m above its surroundings. Historic mine workings are present and are in the form of adits, open pits, caved stopes, trenches, roads, and rock dumps that occupy the surface.From information received from PAM it was noted that the known mineralised lodes and veins occur within an envelope that extends over a strike of approximately 400 m with a maximum width of 150 m. The lodes are thought to converge to the east of the property. The lodes strike approximately northeast-southwest paralleling the regional trend of Kamativi Inlier.The host country-rock comprises high-grade, strongly foliated biotite schist’s and paragneisses of the Precambrian Dete Inlier belonging to the Tshontada Formation. The formation trends northeast on a regional scale, paralleling the trend of the Kamativi Inlier, and dips steeply to the northwest.The tungsten mineralisation occurs in quartz veins and shear zones within a sequence of quartztourmaline and politic (quartz-biotite-garnet) schists that may be intruded by granite intrusions. The primary tungsten mineral of economic interest is wolframite ((Fe,Mn)WO4).The lodes are defined by tourmaline (boron metasomatism) alteration zones, of which at least ten have been identified in the diamond drill holes. These appear to converge to the east. To the west, they apparently die out forming numerous 1 to 5 cm tourmaline and quartz veins.The tourmaline lodes may have developed along planes of weakness that opened up above the apex of a granite intrusion. Some of this quartz ‘sweated out’ from the tourmaline schist, while others carried highly fractionated tungsten-rich fluids from the granite and were deposited within the tourmaline lodes.A later phase of deformation caused shattering of the tourmaline schist and shearing of the quartz veins. High metamorphic grades are evident with localised partial melting of the tourmaline schist and the quartz biotite schist. The schist’s also show evidence of extreme deformation and mylonite bands are common. These lodes are steeply dipping to the northwest at 80° to 90°. Parts of seven separate lodes were exploited in the past. The most productive of these was Lode 2.The mineralised quartz veins are identifiable and exhibit strike continuity within the existing underground development, the wolframite mineralisation does not show the same level of consistency. Tungsten grades show extreme variability and range from sub-economic to more than 300kg per ton over short strike distances.
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