.
Location: 7 km S from Qalat-As-Sanan, Tunisia
Suite 2, Level 11, 385 Bourke StreetMelbourneVictoria, Australia3000
Stay on top of the latest gold discoveries. Examine the latest updates on drilling outcomes spanning various commodities.
Mining scale, mining and mill throughput capaciites.Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Shaft depth, mining scale, backfill type and mill throughput data.Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Equipment type, model, size and quantity.Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Camp size, mine location and contacts.Full profiles of select mines and projects.
- subscription is required.
The Chaketma project consists of sedimentary sequence of shallow marine shelf carbonates, sandstones and deeper marine clays and marls, dating Cretaceous to Miocene. The dominant stratigraphic sequence (from top to bottom) comprises a massive dolomitic limestone of Lutetian age, followed by the Ypresian phosphate suite and then a gradational transition to Paleocene marls on the footwall.The top of the phosphate suite is a phosphatic dolomite/dolomitic phosphatic sandstone, grading sharply down to a high grade medium-grained phosphatic sandstone. This massive phosphatic unit occupies a substantial portion of the total mineralised sequence and is continuous over the entire deposit. Grain size decreases and marly intercalations gradually increase towards the bottom of the sequence, before passing into thicker marls below.The phosphate unit in the Chaketma project is composed often of a single layer with a vertical variation of grain size of ore mineral and lateral variation of the thickness. The thickness of phosphate unit varies from 1m to 50m, with an average thickness of between 10m to 15m.The sedimentary series surrounding and enveloping the phosphate mineralization is made up of, from the base to the surface, marls and marine clays from the Cretaceous to Paleocene, deposited in deeper environments, gradually passing to a suite of Ypresian phosphate, which is then covered by a massive bed of dolomitic limestone Lutetians to Nummulites that can be up to 150m in thickness.StructureThe Chaketma project was deposited within an extensional 'pull-apart basin' which contains evidence of rotational-block and strike-slip faulting, slumping and warping. The northern end of the prospect has been subjected to dramatic EW-trending normal faulting with significant vertical displacement and associated drag folding.A major NNW-SSE-trending bounding fault runs the entire length of the western side of the KEL, GK, and SAB deposits. The existence of this fault is confirmed stratigraphically with the juxtaposition of Eocene strata against older Cretaceous marls to the west, although the location has been inferred by changes in topographic profile.A gentle synclinal fold occupies the central third of the GK deposit. The northern limb of the mineralized horizon dips approximately 15° SSW towards the fold axis, while the southern limb dips 12° NNW into the axis of an anticline located further south. Along both fold hinges evidence of faulting exists, although data is currently lacking to fully define relative movement.The southern portion of GK is characterised by hummocky terrain which may be indicative of local block faulting, although the mineralised horizon remains consistent over the available points of observation.The eastern side of the deposit is also fault-bounded along its entire length, although the boundary consists of NNW-SSE oriented listric faults with large-scale block slumping and rotation. These staggered blocks eventually merge with the DOH prospect to the east.The Chaketma phosphate deposit is situated in the southeast part of North Tunisia Phosphate Basin. This deposit consists of mainly seven blocks separated and dislocated by regional faults, six of which are contained within the Chaketma permit.These blocks or prospects are known as:• Kef El Louz (KEL);• Gassa El Kebira (GK);• Sidi Ali Ben Oum Ezzine (SAB);• Douar Ouled Hamouda (DOH);• Kef El Aguab (KEA) and;• Gassat Ezarbat (GE).
