Postmasburg Manganese Field
mine in south Africa
The Postmasburg Manganese Field (PMF) is a manganese deposit located in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa.
History
The Postmasburg Manganese Field's (PMF) history began with early geological mapping in 1930 and local prospecting in 1940s. Systematic exploration in the 1950s led to discoveries at Gloria mine (1953), Nchwaning mine (1955), Mamatwan mine (1957), and Wessels mine (1958). Mining commenced with Gloria Mine in 1957, followed by Nchwaning in 1972.
Local Geology
The PMF is situated within the Kalahari Manganese Field, a 2.5 Ga old Paleoproterozoic sedimentary basin in South Africa's Northern Cape Province. The PMF's stratigraphy comprises the Mamatwan, Gloria, Nchwaning, and Wessels formations, featuring manganese-bearing sedimentary rocks, iron-rich rocks, siliceous rocks, dolostone, and limestone. Tight folding, faulting, and jointing characterize the structural geology and ore genesis of these manganese ore deposits.
The manganese deposits formed in shallow marine and tidal flat environments through syngenetic and epigenetic mineralization. Key geological features include the Kalahari Fault and Thabazimbi-Middelburg Lineament.
Deposit Characteristics
The PMF is characterized by sedimentary, tabular, and stratiform manganese deposits with Mn grades from 40 to 50%.
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This entry incorporates text from “Postmasburg Manganese Field” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.