a). USGS & Historical Geological Reference Reports:
1. USGS in 1976: Lithium requirements by the year 2000
https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1005/report.pdf
"
A report by Barzin, Managing Director of Geomines, states that the pegmatites are both 5.5 km long and average 400 metres wide (Barzin, 1952). The pegmatite sills have been proven to a depth of 125 metres by drilling. A calculation using these dimensions shows that re sources are enormous. The pegmatites of Manono and Kitotolo probably represent the
largest spodumene resource in the world."
2. An Abundance of Lithium, 2008 by Evans (Godfather of lithium discoveries globally)
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9b04/439bd3442f139dbbaf10d0def7e052fd03f3.pdf
"Pegmatites:
The largest known lithium-containing pegmatites occur in the vicinity of Manono. Each of a pair has a length of 5,000 metres and a width of approximately 400 metres. The weathered zone has been worked for tin and columbite . Assuming a depth of only 50 metres the pegmatites could contain 2.3 million tonnes of Li."
3. An Abundance of Lithium Part 2, by Evans
http://www.evworld.com/library/KEvans_LithiumAbunance_pt2.pdf
"In Zaire he describes the
Manono pegmatites is not a speculative resource. He quotes Kogel's statement which, if it refers only to pegmatites, is almost certainly correct as “dwarfing the currently known world reserves”. The tonnage was published in the NRC report as 520 million tonnes. The panel reduced the tonnage, all open-pitable, by 75% to account for mining, beneficiation and processing losses to give a total of 2.34 million tonnes of recoverable lithium."
b). Historical Resource Estimates
Last resource estimates were done in 2011, in ground value for Tin and Tantanum resources (following table, 2010) are worthy $11 billion alone.
TIN AND TANTALUM RESERVE ESTIMATES:
There were 8 historical lithium resource estimates for Manono-Kitotolo, from 17.1Mt LCE in 1978 to 6.3Mt LCEin 2011, Avereage 9.3Mt LCE,
https://hotcopper.com.au/threads/manono-kitolo-historical-compilation.3320496/#.WkgZfKY_Wf0
https://hotcopper.com.au/posts/30091550/single
https://hotcopper.com.au/posts/29926505/single
