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Location: 45 Km N from Toliara, Madagascar
Fanjava Mahafaly, Property Monja Jaona Avenue 601,ToliaraMadagascar
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The heavy mineral sand deposit is located on the southwest coast of Madagascar within the Mesozoic Morondava Basin along the eastern margin of a coastal plain juxtaposed to an Eocene limestone scarp. The coastal plain is underlain by limestone and overlain by a sequence of progressively shallowing beach and lagoon unconsolidated clastic sediments and subaerial dunes which successively overstep and onlap the basement limestone scarp in the east.The deposit is hosted within a stabilized mega-dune system which is arrested along the basement scarp slope and extends for approximately 20 km north northwest south southeast. The entire dune unit is mineralized by an assemblage of ilmenite, zircon, rutile and monazite concentrated within the unit by aeolian winnowing. The unit generally thickens westwards away from the scarp slope from 3m to 60m. The deposit anisotropy parallels the scarp slope, with higher HM grades concentrated along the megadune crest line.Upper sand unit (USU) - a well sorted, fine-grained, unconsolidated aeolian sand containing approximately 4% slime or clay (SL) and approximately 5% HM. The HM is primarily ilmenite, with secondary zircon and rutile. The USU can also contain a surface silt unit (SSU) within broad topographical drainage features, and another silty sand unit (USSU) at the base of the USU profile.Intermediate clay sand unit (ICSU) - a thin unit of high slime content with a dark red to orange-brown sandy clay and clayey sand material averaging approximately 3% HM and 25% SL deposited in a low energy lagoonal environment.Lower sand unit (LSU) - orange-brown to yellow-brown medium grained quartz sand with variable mineralisation and moderately low slimes content. The LSU is interpreted as a shallow marine or fluvial sediment that onlaps the limestone (LST) basement with HM primarily ilmenite and garnet, with secondary zircon.The deposit thickness generally increases to the west.The resource extends for 20km north - south and averages 3km wide east-west. The average depth of mineralization from the surface to the 1.5% HM cut-off is 20m with a range of 2m to 36m.