Murchison Range
The Murchison Range (German about Murchison chain or Murchison strip ), also called Antimony Range , is a narrow, elongated area of hills in the South African province of Limpopo ( Mopani district ), which extends from the Great Edge step in an east-north-east direction and near distance of the border of Mozambique crosses out . The Murchison Range begins west of Leydsdorp and is about 80 kilometers long. Its longitudinal axis runs parallel to the Makhonjwa Mountains, which lie directly on the northeastern border of Swaziland .
Geography and geology
The range of hills essentially consists of rocks from the greenstone facies , such as altered quartz porphyries and basic intrusive rocks from the Onverwacht series with sediments from the Figtree and Moodies series . These bodies were intruded by basic rocks of the Rooiwater Complex . Together they form the Murchison Greenstone Belt . The highest point is the Spitzkop with 908 meters above sea level. The southern range of hills is known as the Spitzkop Line and has a striking gold grade . The northern range of hills has significant deposits of antimony and is therefore called the Antimony Line . Of interest for mining and mining are mainly solid antimony and the minerals stibnite and arsenopyrite .
From the two parallel chains of hills, six to seven kilometers apart, the ridges protrude prominently through very resistant quartzites and quartz slate banks. Furthermore occur talc schists , chlorite , chlorite mica, fuchsite quartz-carbonate slate, hornblende shale , metamorphic conglomerates , itabirite ( calico rocks ), phyllite , dolomitic on marbles and other metamorphic rocks. The rock sequence is known as the Swaziland Schists . The Murchison Greenstone Belt is enclosed on three sides by granites and gneiss .
The region is known for its mineral wealth and is therefore the destination of mining activities. The first gold discoveries were made by prospectors in 1872. However, the yield was low and the Murchison Range Goldfield was soon abandoned. Rising gold prices had aroused renewed interest in the 1930s and triggered extensive mineral deposits. Their results, however, remained unsatisfactory. Since the 20th century, gold mining has only been a secondary aspect of the mining of antimony ores, although these are important for the world market share. The mining industry has penetrated to a depth of over 650 meters.
Traffic routes
The main traffic development takes place with the regional road R71 as well as with a railway line that leads from Louis Trichardt to Mbombela or Maputo and has a stop here in Gravelotte . Phalaborwa , the nearby main town of the local community Ba-Phalaborwa , has a small inland airport.
literature
- RA Pelletier: Mineral Resources of South-Central Africa . Oxford University Press, Cape Town / London / New York / Toronto 1964, pp. 72–73, 114–115.
- G. Steinmann, O. Wilckens (Ed.): Handbook of Regional Geology . VII. Volume. 7a. Department. The Union of South Africa . Heidelberg 1929, pp. 34-36.
- Ralph Symons: Mining and Milling Antimony Ore at Consolidated Murchison Goldfields, Transvaal . In: Bulletin of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, No. 506, January 1949, London; online at www.archive.org (English).
Web links
- Hudson Institute of Mineralogy: Monarch Antimony mine, Gravelotte, Murchison Range, Limpopo Province, South Africa . at www.mindat.org (English)
- DR Davis, DB Paterson, DHC Griffiths: Antimony in South Africa . In: Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Vol. 86 (1986), No. 6, pp. 173–193, online at www.saimm.co.za (English, PDF)
Individual evidence
- ↑ PorterGeo: Murchison Belt - Alpha Gravelotte, United Jack, Weigel Athens, Monarch Free State, Mulati . on www.portergeo.com.au (English), description of the deposit situation .