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Location: 15 SW from Carletonville, South Africa
Elandsrand DrCarletonvilleSouth Africa2500
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Kusasalethu is located on the north-western margin of the Archean Witwatersrand Basin, one of the prominent gold provinces in the world. There are seven gold-bearing conglomerates within the mining right area, of which only the Ventersdorp Contact Reef (VCR) is economically viable.Kusasalethu is situated in the West Wits Basin and mines the Ventersdorp contact reef as its main orebody.The Ventersdorp Contact Reef facies model at Kusasalethu is based on the paleotopographic or slope and terrace model. Nine facies types have been recognised at Kusasalethu – eight sedimentological and one structural. Four of the facies are thick, high-grade, geologically distinct reef terraces separated from one another by a thin low-grade slope reef. The sand-filled channel is a thick low-grade facies. The Sandy Terrace Complex is found on the same elevation as the Terrace Complex but is essentially a pebbly quartzite with no grade. The Mondeor conglomerates have been identified sub-cropping against the Ventersdorp Contact Reef in stopes in certain areas and have been delineated as separate facies in these areas.The Elsburg conglomerates, found on the western side of Kusasalethu, form the footwall to the Ventersdorp Contact Reef and are part of the Turffontein Supergroup. It is a predominantly polymictic matrix-supported conglomerate of well-packed and moderately sorted, sub-rounded smoky (80%), black-grey (15%) quartz pebbles, chert (3%) and some elongated shale pebbles (2%). The matrix is pale yellow to light green and mediumgrained and pyritic in places. The Ventersdorp Contact Reef is overlain by the Ventersdorp Lava belonging to the Ventersdorp Supergroup. The reef is light to mid-grey in colour and fine crystalline, seldom containing phenocrysts. In places it is amygdaloidal with quartz and pyrite mineralisation. Flow structures are also present at the base of the lava. It breaks into very angular fragments due to weak jointing and flow banding – it would appear to be andesitic in composition.Geological discontinuities observed at Kusasalethu include faults, dykes and sills. Sills may occur in the footwall in areas adjacent to certain dykes. Flat bedding plane faulting also occurs and results in reef duplication, elimination and brecciation. Faults and dykes are classified according to their relative geologic ages as follows: Pre-Ventersdorp Contact Reef, Ventersdorp, Platberg, Bushveld and Pilanesberg structures. Kusasalethu mines in blocky ground created by structures in the form of dykes and faults. The dykes are fairly basic in composition and they tend to strike north-north-east and south-south-west with a general dip of 75 degrees. The faults, however, have a strike mostly of east-south-east and west-northwest with a few exceptions. Generally, these are normal faults with the accompanying loss of ground with varying throws – from mere centimetres to a massive 60m (the Kittims and De Twem faults).
