Klein Letaba Mine, Giyani Greenstone Belt, Greater Giyani Local Municipality, Mopani District Municipality, Limpopo, South Africai
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Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):
23° 17' 34'' South , 30° 33' 35'' East
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):
Type:
Köppen climate type:
Nearest Settlements:
| Place | Population | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Giyani | 37,024 (2012) | 16.3km |
| Thohoyandou | 44,046 (2012) | 39.3km |
| Ga-Kgapane | 13,000 (2013) | 51.9km |
| Duiwelskloof | 24,572 (2012) | 61.7km |
The Klein Letaba Mine started production in 1911 as the Eclipse gold mine, and following regional exploration programme was re-opened as Klein Letaba Mine by the O’Kiep Copper Company in 1948. The main period for production was between 1959 and 1968 when it closed due to a low gold price and an underground rock fall. The mine was re-opened again in 1988/1989 by Gazankulu Gold Holding Limited but closed in 1995. The Klein Letaba gold mine was the largest gold producer in the Giyani Goldfield (Ward and Wilson, 1998) and lies directly south of Franke gold mine on the opposite side of the Klein Letaba River (Smit et al., 2019).
Gold mineralization at Klein Letaba occurs in lenses of metapelitic gneiss and quartz-sulphide rock within the Hout River Shear Zone where it forms the northern boundary of the Sutherland greenstone belt and the southern edge of the Southern Marginal Zone. This shear zone strikes N85 degrees E and dips 82 degrees to the north. Lineations and individual ore bodies plunge 45 degrees to the east along the shear plane. Rehydrated pelitic granulites and prograde olivine-tremolite schists are tectonically intermixed within the shear zone. Muscovite from bodies of pegmatite within this shear zone near the mine yield an Rb-Sr age of -2660 Ma that is believed to reflect a major period of movement possibly associated with mineralization (van Reenen et al., 1994)
Select Mineral List Type
Standard Detailed Gallery Strunz Chemical ElementsCommodity List
This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded at this locality.Mineral List
1 valid mineral.
Detailed Mineral List:
| ⓘ Native Gold Formula: Au |
Gallery:
List of minerals arranged by Strunz 10th Edition classification
| Group 1 - Elements | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ⓘ | Native Gold | 1.AA.05 | Au |
List of minerals for each chemical element
| Au | Gold | |
|---|---|---|
| Au | ⓘ Native Gold | Au |
Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality
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