Manono Project Geology, page-100

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Manono-Kitotolo is a very large rare-metal pegmatite located in the northern part of the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, ~500 km NW of Lubumbashi, which has mainly been exploited for cassiterite and columbite–tantalite (Bassot and Morio, 1989; Landa et al., 1950; Thoreau, 1950). The Manono-Kitotolo deposit consists of numerous open pit mines that extend over an area with a width of 800 m and that stretches over a distance of 15 km. From the start in 1915 until the stop of the exploitation in the mid 1980s, the deposit has produced about 140,000 tonnes of cassiterite concentrate and 4500 tonnes of columbite–tantalite concentrate (unpublished archives Géomines at the Royal Museum for Central Africa — RMCA). During the last decades of exploitation, the production continuously dropped not only due to technical problems, but also due to depletion of the altered and easily exploitable near-surface portions, resulting in an increasing importance of the unaltered pegmatite. The non-altered pegmatite is estimated to have a resource potential of about 200,000 tonnes of cassiterite and 10,000 tonnes of columbite–tantalite concentrate (unpublished archives Géomines, RMCA), which would make Manono-Kitotolo a world-class deposit. In addition, the spodumene potential has been evaluated during the beginning of the 1980s and has been estimated at 330,000 tonnes of Li (unpublished archives Géomines, RMCA), which would make it the fourth largest lithium pegmatite intrusion of the world. Prospection had also been carried out in the larger vicinity of the Manono-Kitotolo quarries (Laterite Kitotolo Nord, Flat Lukushi, etc.), where substantial reserves have been indicated. A borehole in the western part of the Kitotolo quarry has demonstrated that the mineralized pegmatite continues to a depth of at least 100 m, and is still open towards depth.

In this study, we focus on the geology and the timing of the formation of the primary Sn, Nb–Ta and Li mineralization of ManonoKitotolo. This study of the Manono-Kitotolo deposit is largely based on unpublished geological information available in the mining archives of the companies that exploited the deposit in the past (Géomines, Zairétain and Congoétain; mining archives Royal Museum for Central Africa) and on the study of hundreds of rock and mineral concentrate samples present in the rock and mineral collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA). Due to logistical and security reasons, the Manono-Kitotolo has been largely inaccessible during the last decades. In addition, after the exploitation started, the main quarries have been flooded which complicates the study of the unaltered pegmatites.