1. Mineral Resources
  2. Online Spatial Data
  3. Mineral Resource Data System (MRDS)

Selukwe Peak and Railway Block Mines

Producer in Zimbabwe with commodity Chromium
Map
XML
JSON
KML
B
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. Production statistics
  13. Reserves and resources
  14. Links to other databases
  15. Bibliographic references
  16. General comments
  17. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10106761
MRDS ID ISM0024
Record type Site
Current site name Selukwe Peak and Railway Block Mines

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: 30.01803, -19.71359 (WGS84)
Elevation 1433
Relative position CLAIM; 1 KM

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Zimbabwe(country)

Africa(continent)

Land(continent)

Geographic areas

Country
Zimbabwe

Comments on the location information

  • SELUKWE: 6000 M SSE OF SELUKWE TOWNSHIP ON WESTERN SLOPE OF THE PEAK; RAILWAY BLOCK: 2000 M NW OF SELUKWE TOWNSHIP, N OF TOWN CEMETERY
  • LOHATHLA IS THE MAIN MANGANESE PRODUCER IN THE POSTMASBURG FIELD

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Chromium Critical Primary

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Ultramafic Intrusive Rock > Peridotite > Dunite
    Rock unit name Sebakwain Group; Lower Greenstone Series
    Rock description Sebakwain Group; Lower Greenstone Series
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Paleoarchean

Nearby scientific data

(1) 30.01803, -19.71359
ListMap

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Regional
Structure description Layered Intrusion

Comments on the geologic information

  • NAPPE FORMATION; ARCH; 3200 MA; CRMT + OLVN + MGNT + ILMN + SRPN + TALC CARBONATE + CLRT + ANGR; METAMORPHISM HAS MODIFIED THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF CHROMITE ORES AT LEAST TWICE. RAILWAY BLOCK IS A SERIES OF FLAT, TECTONIC SLICES WHICH HAVE MOVED ALONG THRUST PLANES. AT SELUKWE PEAK, AN OVERTURNED SYNCLINE HAS BEEN THURST-FAULTED AND OVERFOLDED.
  • REGIONAL UNCONFORMITY; PRE-2070; BIXBYITE + BRAUNITE + HAUSMANNITE + JACOBSITE; THE MANGANESE IS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN LEACHED FROM THE DOLOMITE *BY AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS ASCENDING TO THE OVERLYING SHALE WHERE ORE *EMPLACEMENT OCCURRED. SLUMP MATERIAL "TRAPPED" IN IRREGULARITIES ON *THE KARSTED SURFACE OF THE GHAAP PLATEAU DOLOMITE WAS ALSO SUBJECTED *TO THE REPLACEMENT PROCESS.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Producer
Commodity type Metallic
Significant No
Discovery year 1904
Year of first production 1906
Year of last production 1982

Mining district

District name Selukwe Complex Area (Selukwe)

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Zimbabwe Mining And Smelting Co. (Zimasco)
  • Type Owner
    Owner Union Carbide Corp.

Production statistics

  • Year 1981
    Material ORE CR
    Accuracy Accurate
    Description Ap_Grade: ^49.9% Cr2o3
    Importance Item Commodity Group Amount recovered Grade Recovery percentage
    Cr2O3 Ore Chromium Chromium 50wt-pct

Comments on the production information

  • UNKNOWN 500,000 MT/YR (INCREASE OF 40% OVER EXISTING CAPACITY)BOTH SELUKWE MINES PRODUCE 70% OF ZIMBABWE TOTAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION. PC1 REPRESENTS CUMULATIVE PRODUCTION FOR SELUKWE PEAK; PC2: CUMULATIVE PRODUCTION FOR BOTH OPERATIONS; PC3: CUMULATIVE PRODUCTION FOR ZIMBABWE.

Reserves and resources

  • Type In-situ
    Estimate year 1982
    Commodity Subtype Grade units Group Importance Year
    Chromium Cr2O3 46.5 wt-pct Chromium Major 1982

Comments on the reserve resource information

  • RR1: DEMONSTRATED RESOURCES AT SELUKWE PEAK; RR2: DEMONSTRATED RESOURCES AT RAILWAY BLOCK; RR1 AND RR2 CALCULATIONS BASED UPON CONTRACTOR-SUPPLIED DATA AND DETAILED GEOLOGIC AND ENGINEERING DATA AND CRITERIA.
  • RR9: ESTIMATED RESOURCES OF BOTH SELUKWE COMPLEX MINES.
  • RR1 AND RR2 REFER TO SAME MATERIAL

Comments on development

  • NON-GEOLOGIC CONSTRAINTS ON DEVELOPMENT OR EXPANSION IN 1-5 YRS. ( LABOR; ENERGY; X; LACK OF INVESTMENT CAPITAL DUE TO LACK OF INVESTOR CONFIDENCE). DEVELOPMENT(YES); EXPLORATION(YES); ASSESSMENT(IN 1982, A MINERALS MARKETING BOARD (MMB) AND MINERALS MARKETING CORPORATION (MMC) WERE ESTABLISHED UNDER GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ZIMBABWE MINERAL PRO-DUCTION (RF7, P. 13)); MINING DEPTH 800 M
  • NON-GEOLOGIC CONSTRAINTS ON DEVELOPMENT OR EXPANSION IN 1-5 YRS. ( ; NO CONSTRAINTS). DEVELOPMENT(YES); EXPLORATION(YES); ASSESSMENT(RESOURCES LARGELY DEPLETED); WEAK MARKET CONDITIONS AT PRESENT

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    THOMAS, P., 1982, WRITTEN COMMUN., MAS DATA: DENVER, CO., U.S. BUREAU OF MINES. (RR1, RR2, RR8, RR9, RR10, RR16)

  • Deposit

    COTTERILL, P., 1969, THE CHROMITE DEPOSITS OF SELUKWE, RHODESIA, IN WILSON, H. D. B., ED., MAGMATIC ORE DEPOSITS: ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, MONOGRAPH 4, P. 154-187. (C3, C9, PC2)

  • Deposit

    SKEKARCHI, E., MORGAN, G., CLARKE, P., AND AMBROSIO, S., 1981, ZIMBABWE: U.S. BUREAU OF MINES MINERAL PERSPECTIVES SERIES, AUGUST, 62 P. (C14, PA1, PA8)

  • Deposit

    PETERSON, E. CO., 1982, CHROMIUM, IN U.S. BUREAU OF MINES, MINERALS YEARBOOK 1980, V. I, METALS AND MINERALS: WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, P. 189-200. (C12, C13)

  • Deposit

    MORGAN, G. A., 1982, THE MINERAL INDUSTY OF ZIMBABWE (SOUTHERN RHODESIA), IN U.S. BUREAU OF MINES, MINERALS YEARBOOK 1980, V. III, AREA REPORTS-INTERNATIONAL: WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, P. 1145-1155. (C12, C13)

  • Deposit

    THAYER, T. P. AND LIPIN, B. R., 1978, A GEOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF WORLD CHROMITE PRODUCTION FOR THE YEAR 2000 A.D.: AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING, METALLURGICAL AND PETROLEUM ENGINEERS, COUNCIL OF ECONOMICS PROCEEDINGS (FOR MEETING OF FEB. 26-MAR. 2, 1978), P. 143-152.

  • Deposit

    ABRAHAMS, A., 1983, "ZIMBABWE NEEDS MARKET DATA, EXPERIENCED TRADERS," IN AMERICAN METAL MARKET CHROMIUM SUPPLEMENT: AMERICAN METAL MARKET, V. 91, NO. 244 (16 DEC.), P. 13. (C17)

  • Production

    PA1, PA8: RF3, P. 14 PC1, PC8: RF2, P. 155; PC2, PC8: RF3, P. 17; PC3: RF6 AND USBM DATA FOR SUBSEQUENT YEARS

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
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.). OPEN CAST LT 5 M CONC (3 GRADES)

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-JUL-1982 Lipin Bruce R U.S. Geological Survey

Beyond USGS

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

Maps centered on this site