What is it about?
The Kabanga nickel prospect in northwestern Tanzania contains a large deposit of nickel sulphides that has not yet been developed for extraction due to its distance from the coast. This paper presents the first widely available description of the sulphide mineralization at Kabanga, including its geochemistry and mineralogy. The paper concludes with a hypothesis about its origin, which may assist with regional exploration for other deposits.
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Why is it important?
The Kabanga nickel deposit is a very important future resource for the government and people of Tanzania and neighbouring countries. Its presence, and future economic exploitation may drive infrastructure and human development of this region. It is critical to base these economic and societal decisions on a sound scientific foundation, specifically, the amount and quality (grade, mineralogy) of the deposit. This paper contributes to this fundamental knowledge.
Perspectives
This paper results from work I carried out while employed by BHP Minerals Exploration International Inc. (now a part of BHP Billiton Ltd). It was important to understand why some parts of the main deposit had low nickel and copper grades, whereas others were higher grade. The breakthrough came when we realized that the intrusion which hosts the deposit was overturned and the ore variations were thus related to stratigraphic position within the intrusion.
Dr David M Evans
Natural History Museum, London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Variability of magmatic sulphide compositions at the Kabanga nickel prospect, Tanzania, Journal of African Earth Sciences, August 1999, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/s0899-5362(99)00101-3.
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