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Mrata

Prospect in Al Kaf, Tunisia with commodities Phosphorus-Phosphates, Fluorine-Fluorite
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Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Commodities
  6. Host and associated rocks
  7. Nearby scientific data
  8. Geologic structures
  9. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  10. Mining district
  11. Ownership information
  12. Links to other databases
  13. Bibliographic references
  14. General comments
  15. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10024684
MRDS ID ISM0418
Record type Site
Current site name Mrata
Alternate or previous names M'Rata, Djebel Haliman

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: 8.13507, 34.49923 (WGS84)
Elevation 300
Relative position CENTROID, ABOUT 5 KM

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Al Kaf(province)

Tunisia(country)

Geographic areas

Country State
Tunisia Al Kaf

Comments on the location information

  • SW FROM MOULARES. RAIL CONNECTION TO METLAOUI
  • SEVERAL SMALL DEPOSITS: GASUS 26 DEG. 32'N, 33 DEG. 59'E; UMM HUWEITAT 26 DEG. 30'N, 33 DEG. 58'E; EL HIGAB 26 DEG. 33'N, 33 DEG. 55'E; WASSIF 26 DEG. 30'N, 33 DEG. 50'E; MOHAMMED RABAH 26 DEG. 35'N, 33 DEG. 49'E; DUWI 26 DEG. 16'N, 34 DEG. 00'E. RAIL CONNECTION TO SAFAGA BY A METRE GANGE RAILWAY, DISTANCE 27 KM. UMM HUWEITAT HAS TWO OPERATIONS: UMM HUWEITAT AND EL HIGAB

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Phosphorus-Phosphates Primary
Fluorine-Fluorite Critical Primary

Comments on the commodity information

  • PHOSPHATE

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Carbonate > Limestone
    Rock unit name Metlaoui Formation;Metlaoui Formation;Metlaoui Formation
    Rock description Metlaoui Formation;Metlaoui Formation;Metlaoui Formation
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Sedimentary Rock > Chemical Sediment > Chert

Nearby scientific data

(1) 8.13507, 34.49923
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Gafsa Basin

Comments on the geologic information

  • ; APATITE (COLLOPHANE), CALCITE, DOLOMITE, QUARTZ, ILLITE, SMECTITE, GYPSUM, OPALE; MINOR PHOSPHATE BEDS OCCURRING IN MAESTRICHTIAN EL-HARIA FORMATION. ECONOMICALLY WORKABLE SEAMS IN THANETIAN-YPRESIAN METLAOUI FORMATION. METLAOUI FORMATION DISPLAYS A BASAL EVAPORITIC SEQUENCE UPON WHICH FOLLOW THE MAIN PHOSPHATE SEQUENCE (CONTAINING AT LEAST 4 M OF 54 % BPL ORE) AND A ROOF-SEQUENCE, MADE UP OF LIMESTONES. PHOSPHATE SEQUENCE TOTALS 46 M IN THICKNESS. IT IS SUBDIVIDED IN "FAISCEAUX" A-D (MEMBER D IS TOP). DEPOSIT IS LOCATED ON NORTHERN LIMB OF THE MAIN MOULARES ANTICLINE. BEDS DIP STEEPLY NEARLY VERTICALLY. PHOSPHATE BED NO.2 (FAISCEAU D) IS MINED IN MRATA. THICKNESS OF BED NO.2 MAY BE NEAR 4 M (2A AND 2B SEPARATED BY 0.5 M DOLOMITIC INTERCALATION)
  • ; APATITE (COLLOPHANE), OPALE, QUARTZ, CALCITE MATRIX, LIMONITE, CLAY MINERALS, MINOR: HALITE, GYPSUM; THE UPPER AND MIDDLE PHOSPHATE BEDS, OUT OF 3 SEAMS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE WORKABLE. UPPER BED: 1.5-2 M THICK CONTAINS 45-50 % BPL. DOWNWARD FOLLOWS 5 M THICK INTERCALATION OF BARREN ROCKS (CHERT, PHOSPHATIC LIME). MIDDLE BED: 1-1.3 M THICK, CONTAINS 54-70 % BPL. GENERAL STRATIGRAPHIC SEQUENCE (FROM TOP TO BOTTOM): - THEBES FORMATION YPRESIAN, LIMESTONES, EEO; - ESHNA SHALES & MARLS, 50 M, PALEO; - DAKHLA SHALES & LIMESTONES, 110 M, DANIAN, PALEO; - DUWI PHOSPHATE FORMATION, 15 M, MAESTRICHTIAN, LCRET; - VARIEGATED SHALES, 70 M, CAMPANIAN, LCRET; - NUBIA SANDSTONE, CRET; - BASEMENT, LPREC-PAL

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Prospect
Commodity type Non-metallic
Significant No
Discovery year 1895
Year of first production 1972
Year of last production 1982

Mining district

District name Gafsa Phosphate District

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Compagnie Des Phosphates De Gafsa (Cpg) (State Controlled)

Comments on the production information

  • 1.2 MILLION TPY, MINE CAPACITY (1980)"MINE CAPACITY IS 1.2 MILLION TPA"
  • MILL CAPACITY 300 TPDMILL CAPACITY ON MINE SITE 300 TPD

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • "ESTIMATED RESERVES"
  • PROVEN RESERVES; REPORTERS OPINION: R1, CONTAINING 23 MILLION R1E AND 24.8 MILLION R1S
  • INFERRED RESERVES: RR25 WASSIF, RR26: MOHAMMED RABAH, R2E3: DUWI DEPOSIT. ESTIMATES REFER TO MIDDLE AND UPPER SEAM SUM OF QUANTITIES MENTIONED IN PRECEEDING RESOURCE LABELS
  • PROBABLE RESERVES UMM EL HUETTAT

Comments on development

  • NON-GEOLOGIC CONSTRAINTS ON DEVELOPMENT OR EXPANSION IN 1-5 YRS. (). DEVELOPMENT(UNKNOWN); EXPLORATION(UNKNOWN); PRODUCING PHOSPHATE ROCK FOR DIRECT APPLICATION (60-62 % BPL) AND CONCENTRATE (65-68 % BPL). PRINCIPALLY PHOSPHATE BED NO.2 IS MINED THROUGH BLOCK CAVING. PHOSPHATE BED NO.2 IS WITHIN FAISCEAU D. ROM-ORE IS TRANSPORTED TO MOULARES BY CONVEYOR BELT FOR PROCESSING
  • NON-GEOLOGIC CONSTRAINTS ON DEVELOPMENT OR EXPANSION IN 1-5 YRS. (). DEVELOPMENT(UNKNOWN); EXPLORATION(UNKNOWN); CONCENTRATES CONTAIN 65.8 % BPL. CHEMISTRY: 1) ORE, UPPER BED 53.8 % BPL, 24.6 % P2O5, 42.61 % CAO, 4.1 % F, 0.18 % SO3, 6.1 % MGO, 2.9 % AL2O3, 2.9 % FE2O3, 1.2 % SIO2, 17.0 % LOI, 26.6 % P2O5, 43.1 % CAO, 4.06 % F; 2) ORE, MIDDLE BED 58.1 % BPL GRADE, 0.7 % SO3, 4.5 % MGO, 2.83 % AL2O3, 2.83 % FE2O3, 3.4 % SIO2, 12.0 % LOI. 1) AND 2) SOURCE OF INFO: OCEPEK, D. 1967: AUFBEREITUNGSPROBLEME BEI PHOSPHATERZEN AUS SAFAGA, VAR. ERZMETALL, VOL.XX, NO.4, P.165-168

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    BRITISH SULPHUR CORP. LTD., 1980: WORLD SURVEY OF PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS, 4TH ED., LONDON

  • Deposit

    FOURNIE, D., 1979: PHOSPHATES ET PETROLE EN TUNISIE. DOCUMENTS DU BRGM, NO.24, 1980

  • Deposit

    SASSI, S., 1979: CONTEXTE PALEOGEOGRAPHIQUE DES DEPOTS PHOSPHATES DE L'EOCENE EN TUNISIE. DOCUMENTS DU BRGM, NO.24, 1980

  • Deposit

    CHAABANI, F., 1978: LES PHOSPHORITES DE LA COUPE-TYPE DE FOUM-SELJA (METLAOUI-TUNISIE), THESIS, UNIVERSITY STRASBOURG

  • Production

    BRITISH SULPHUR CORP. LTD., 1980: WORLD SURVEY OF PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS, 4TH ED., P.147, LONDON

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit THIS RECORD WAS COMPILED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC MINERALS INVENTORY. THE DATA WERE USED IN PREPARATION OF THE USGS CIRCULAR 930 SERIES OF REPORTS. MINERAL RESOURCE CATEGORIES AND CODES HEREIN ARE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM RECOMMENDED BY THE UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON DEFINITIONS AND TERMINOLOGY FOR MINERAL RESOURCES. (SEE NATIONAL RESOURCES FORUM, V. 4, NO. 3, P. 307-313.). UNDERGROUND WASHING AT MOULARES PLANT
Deposit THIS RECORD WAS COMPILED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC MINERALS INVENTORY. THE DATA WERE USED IN PREPARATION OF THE USGS CIRCULAR 930 SERIES OF REPORTS. MINERAL RESOURCE CATEGORIES AND CODES HEREIN ARE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM RECOMMENDED BY THE UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON DEFINITIONS AND TERMINOLOGY FOR MINERAL RESOURCES. (SEE NATIONAL RESOURCES FORUM, V. 4, NO. 3, P. 307-313.). UNDERGROUND CRUSHING, SCREENING, DRYING

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1982 Krauss, Ulrich H. Bundesanstalt Fuer Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffee (Germany)

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.

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