Namibia
Source: http://geology.com/
Source: http://geology.com/
The historical production of lithium mineral concentrates from pegmatites in Namibia from 1939 to 1991 amounted to 70 338.44 tonnes of lepidolite, 10 207.76 tonnes of amblygonite and 112 763.55 tonnes of petalite.
Rubikon Pegmatite
The pegmatite is the largest of the Rubikon pegmatite swarm and is located 30km southeast of Karibib on the farm Okongava 72.
It has been the major source of lithium within Namibia. The deposit was
exploited by open pit and room-and-pillar stoping to a depth of 30m.
The pegmatite consists of two ellipsoidal, well zoned, lithium bearing
orebodies that are surrounded by quartzo-feldspathic pegmatite. The
first ore body is 320m long and 25 to 35m wide and dips 45° to the
northeast but flattens to 18 to 25° at depth. The second ore body dips
30° to the northeast and flattens to 8 to 12° at a depth of 20m. The
exploitable lithium minerals are confined to the outer and inner core
zones. Economic quantities of beryl are also found in the bodies.
Pinkish petalite crystals in the upper portion of the Rubikon pegmatite, Namibia
- Montero Mining and Exploration Ltd (MON.V) is a mineral exploration and development company engaged in the identification, acquisition, evaluation and exploration of mineral properties in Africa. Montero currently has a Rare Earth Elements (REE) project in Tanzania and Phosphate project in South Africa and exploring the Soris Lithium Project in Namibia. Soris Lithium Project is located in Namibia and Montero has the opportunity, under the terms of a Letter of Intent (LOI), and subject to due diligence and regulatory approval to acquire a 80% equity interest. Under the terms of the LOI, Montero immediately earns an 80% interest in the Property by committing to spending C$1 million and completing a feasibility study in 3 years. The Soris Lithium Project is located in central Namibia north west of the town of Uis. The town of Uis is 220 km north of Namibia's largest commercial deep-water port, namely Walvis Bay. The project is located in the Erongo Region and is connected by dirt and asphalt road to the port of Walvis Bay. The Soris pegmatite field are hosted in the metasedimentary units of the Damara Mobile Belt, the northeast-trending branch of the Neo-Proterozoic, Pan African Damara Orogen in Namibia. The zoned pegmatites at Soris belong to a group of highly fractionated, tantalite-cassiterite, lithium-rich rare metal pegmatites. Lithium mineralization occurs in the form of spodumene crystals developed virtually over the whole length of the pegmatite, although the relative abundance of spodumene varies from one location to another. Spodumene minerals of up to 80 cm long are observed inter-grown with quartz towards the pegmatite core zone. The Soris Project pegmatites encompasses several outcrops, varying in length between 100m up to 470m over a distance of 2.4 kms and has been measured in places to be more than 30 m wide. The Soris pegmatites were mined on small scale for tin and tantalum between 1960 and 1990 with an estimated total production of 4 to 5 tonnes tantalite concentrate grading 54 to 61% Ta205 and about 4 tonnes of cassiterite concentrate grading 64% SnO2... and more recently exploration for tantalum and tin, including RC (Reverse Circulation drilling was undertaken until 2015. The pegmatite has not been mined or systematically sample assayed for lithium. Recent field investigations by Montero revealed the pegmatite to host more than 30% spodumene by volume with values of up to 7.7 % Li2O obtained from grab samples. Further work confirmatory work is planned as part of the due diligence.
- Desert Lion Energy has an Exclusive Prospecting License of 301 km2 around the historic Rubicon lithium and Helikon lithium mines, near Karibib in the Erongo Region. Average lithium
assays from due diligence were 2.96% Li2O and up to 4.3% Li2O. Mapping
has revealed other Li-bearing pegmatites. The company wants to start by
processing the stockpiles and remaining ore in Q4 2017.
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Auroch Minerals Limited, an Australian exploration company, has secured prospective lithium acreage in Namibia. This acreage forms the Karibib Lithium Project. The Karibib Lithium Project is situated in the same region as Namibia’s two historic lithium producing mines, Helikon and Rubikon. The company has five existing Exclusive Prospecting Licenses (EPLs) in the region and recently announced an Option and JV agreement to earn up to 90% of granted EPL 5751, which lies South West of Helikon and Rubikon.
- Tawana Resources NL an Australian exploraton company, entered an agreement In September 2016, to acquire mining rights to the Uis pegmatite tailings stockpile in Namibia. The project is near the former mining town of Uis, 165km NNE of the coast city of Swakopmund, and 270km NW of the capital Windhoek. The Uis Project comprises an estimated stockpile of 20Mt of large coarse and fine tailings stockpiles from the Uis tin mine which operated between 1924 and 1990. Unweathered pegmatite material was mined by open cut and hauled to a processing plant for extraction of cassiterite (tin concentrate) by gravity. Limited sampling to date has indicated potentially attractive lithium grades present. The most common lithium minerals reported from the unzoned albite-rich Uis pegmatites are: Amblygonite (Li,Na)AlPO4(F,OH), contains 7.3-10.0% Li2O; Petalite LiAlSi4O10, contains 3.4-4.9% Li2O; and Spodumene LiAl (SiO3)2, contains 8% Li2O. The pegmatites contain significant quantities of tantalum minerals, much of which is believed to remain in the stockpile along with about 30% of the original contained cassiterite. Metallurgical testwork has commenced (samples have arrived at Nagrom in Perth) and a Resource estimate will be completed by the end of June 2017.
