avm-back in town, page-20

re: miningnut, nt, flats, marut et al For anyone interested this is a photo of Mutoshi from 1950.

http://euromin.w3sites.net/Nouveau_site/musees/bruxelles/photos/316.htm
http://euromin.w3sites.net/Nouveau_site/musees/bruxelles/photos/317.htm

I've been trying to find about the history of this region, most documents however seem to be in French. What I did find tend to confirm that this area is considered the best dirt in the Congo for Cu/Co. Mutoshi seems to be considered one of the major Gecamines mines in it's day before everything went pear shaped around the 1990's and mining virtually stopped.

Some geological notes on the area...

"The Kolwezi Klippe copper-cobalt deposits are located in the Kolwezi district, Katanga/Shaba province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and are large sediment hosted, primary and secondaryore deposits. They include the individual deposits of Dikuluwe, Mashamba, Kamoto-Olivera-Virgule (KOV), Musonoi , Mutoshi , Kamoto u/g, Kolwezi , Ruwe and Mupine. These deposits are part of the extensive Katanga Cupriferous Arc which is continuous with the Zambian Copper Belt.

The estimated mined plus resource in 1990 was 1750 Mt, including total mined to date of 460 Mt @ 4.6% Cu, 0.35% Co. In 1990 there were five open pits and one underground mine contributing 80% of Zaires (DRC) production.

Of the major deposits, Mutoshi and Musonoi are predominantly within supergene ore.

Mutoshi carries around 2% Cu over a thickness of more than 100 m over several square km, with a quoted grade of 1.5% Cu for the RAT host. "


Read that last line again and tell me that ain't good!