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Fumani Mine, Giyani Greenstone Belt, Greater Giyani Local Municipality, Mopani District Municipality, Limpopo, South Africai
| Regional Level Types | |
|---|---|
| Fumani Mine | Mine |
| Giyani Greenstone Belt | Greenstone Belt |
| Greater Giyani Local Municipality | Municipality |
| Mopani District Municipality | Municipality |
| Limpopo | Province |
| South Africa | Country |
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
23° 6' 37'' South , 30° 53' 35'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Deposit first discovered:
Before 1934
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Giyani | 37,024 (2012) | 27.8km |
| Thohoyandou | 44,046 (2012) | 45.6km |
Other/historical names associated with this locality:
Giant Reefs gold mine
The Fumani gold mine is situated at the north-eastern end of the Giyani greenstone belt in the nose of a refolded regional fold structure that plunges northwest. Mining operations started in 1934 as the Giant Reefs gold mine and following a regional exploration programme by Klein Letaba Mining Company, production continued until 1963. Further exploration by Mining Corporation in the 1970s and the resultant drilling programme proved ore reserves to a depth of 600 m (Ward and Wilson, 1998). The mine was reopened as Fumani gold mine in 1977 and from 1980 until the mine went into liquidation in 1991, 280 000 tons of ore was treated with an average recovery rate of 4 g/t and at least 1.1 ton of gold has been extracted to date (Ward and Wilson 1998, Smit et al., 2019).
The ore zone at Fumani (Pretorius et al.,1988) is situated within the southward verging Hout River Shear Zone. It occurs at the contact of banded iron formation (garnetiferous quartz-amphibole schist) with the surrounding micaceous quartzite. Gold occurs as inclusions in arsenopyrite, biotite, amphibole, and quartz. Competency contrasts during shearing between the banded iron formation and the micaceous quartzite probably created suitable channels for mineralizing fluids. The minimum age of mineralization is given by a 2632 +/-53 Ma Rb-Sr age of muscovite from a pegmatite intruding the ore zone (Pretorius et al.,1988). The rare occurrence of ferro-hypersthene + salite + early poikilitic Ca-poor garnet indicates peak metamorphic conditions at upper amphibolite to granulite grade. Retrograde metamorphism still at high temperature and accompanied by shearing is characterized by the assemblage Ca-rich garnet + grunerite + hornblende + biotite + calcite (van Reenen et al., 1994).
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