The Molo deposit occurs within the regional Ampanihy Shear Zone. The most conspicuous feature of rocks found within this shear zone is their well-developed north-southfoliation and vertical to sub-vertical nature. Martelat et al. (2000) state that this observed bulk strain pattern is clearly related to a transpressional regime during bulk horizontal shortening of heated crust, which resulted in the exhumation of lower crustal material.

The Project area is underlain by supracrustal and plutonic rocks of late Neoproterozoic age that were metamorphosed under upper amphibolite facies and deformed with upright north- northeast-trending structures. The supracrustal rocks involve migmatitic (± biotite, garnet) quartzo-feldspathic gneiss, marble, chert, quartzite, and amphibolite gneiss. The metaplutonic rocks include migmatitic (± hornblende / diopside, biotite, garnet) feldspathic gneiss of monzodioritic to syenitic composition, biotite granodiorite, and leucogranite.

The Molo graphitic zone consists of multi-folded graphitic strata with a surficially exposed strike length of over two kilometers. Outcrop mapping and trenching on Molo has shown the surface geology to be dominated by resistant ridges of graphitic schist and graphitic gneiss, with fracture-lined vanadium mineralisation, as well as abundant graphitic schist float.

Geological modelling has shown that the deposit consists of various zones of mineralised graphitic gneiss, with a barren fo ........

The surficial, lateral expanse and the massive nature of the Molo deposit make it suitable for open-pit mining methods. It is a typical pipe shaped and steeply dipping ore body, with an extended mineral outcrop along the strike (north-south direction) of the deposit. In this mining method, the following activities are executed:

•The land is cleared, topsoil is removed and stockpiled at designated sites for use in future land rehabilitation. Depending on the extent of the base of weathering, any further waste, or ore that can be removed by free-digging is removed and stockpiled accordingly. The topsoil is planned to be used as a berm around the pit to prevent water flow into the pit and to minimise transportation costs

•In a number of cyclic processes, the waste and/or mineralised material is drilled, charged with explosives and blasted, excavated, hauled and dumped in designated sites

•At strategically planned periods the waste around the boundary of the pit is removed in order to mine out deeper ore. The conventional open pit mining activities are carried out with small to medium sized mining equipment including 20t dump trucks, a 2 m3 excavator and an 8 m3 Front End Loader.

Using the minimum mining width of 30 m suited for the selected mining equipment and the recommended 46o slope angle, the final pit design at Molo was drafted including the following key design parameters:

- A single ramp was designed in the centre zo ........

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