Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 960–967

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

Understanding Gamsberg – A geometallurgical study of a large stratiform

zinc deposit
R. Schouwstra a, D. de Vaux b,*, P. Hey a, V. Malysiak b, N. Shackleton b, S. Bramdeo a
a
Mineralogical Research Department, Anglo Research, South Africa
b
Metallurgical Services Department, Anglo Research, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Gamsberg zinc deposit in the Northern Cape in South Africa has been the subject of a number of stud-
Received 22 December 2009 ies by Anglo American over the years. Two distinct ore types have been identified, namely pelitic and gar-
Accepted 12 March 2010 net-magnetite ore. The ore is characterised by relatively high manganese levels. Manganese reporting to
Available online 14 April 2010
the flotation concentrate is problematic for downstream refining.
Anglo Research was asked by the exploration division of Anglo Base to study the relationship between
Keywords: the mineralogy and the floatability of the ore from reef intersections obtained from the eastern ore body.
Sulphide ores
The two ore types were found to have different mineralogical characteristics resulting in different flota-
Froth flotation
Ore mineralogy
tion responses both in terms of zinc and manganese recoveries and concentrate grades.
Liberation The presence of the manganese sulphide, alabandite, was also established, and was found to be extre-
mely detrimental to sphalerite flotation. The reasons for this were explained using the surface analysis
facility at Anglo Research.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The Gamsberg zinc deposit, located in the North Western Cape,
South Africa (Fig. 1) is a large, nearly 160 million tons, but rela-
tively low grade, 5–6%, zinc deposit (Personal Communication, John
Taylor, Anglo American). Since discovery in 1971, Newmont, Gold-
fields of South Africa and more recently Anglo American have con-
sidered processing the resource. Anglo bought a 45% stake in
Gamsberg in the early 1970’s and then in 1998 acquired the
remaining 55%, almost immediately announcing R4 billion plans
to develop a 200,000 tpa mine (Ryan, 1999; Walker, 1998).
Although in 2000 the project had demonstrated a positive re-
turn on investment the decision to proceed to implementation
was not granted due to the concerns around the imminent royal-
ties bill legislation, the fact that the zinc price was at a 30 year
low and the recent approval of the Skorpion mine in Namibia. A
zinc review in 2007 concluded that, should Anglo’s strategy be to
remain in the zinc business, then proceeding with the Gamsberg
project would deliver the best value as the deposit was already
owned by Anglo, had a long life (>20 years) and would have an ex-
tremely competitive cost position (lower quartile cost producer).
To this end, in August 2007, a decision was made to proceed with
a conceptual study.
Typically zinc, in the form of sphalerite, is recovered by flotation
in which copper sulphate is used as an activator. Copper replaces
zinc in the sphalerite lattice on the surface of the mineral grains
and provides sites for xanthate adsorption thus rendering the min-
eral grain hydrophobic and amenable to recovery by froth flotation.
The flotation concentrates produced are further refined, typically
by leaching and subsequent electrowinning of the zinc.
In the previous work on Gamsberg, one of the challenges that
was identified, apart from the low grade, has been the amount of
manganese reporting to the zinc concentrate. Manganese in zinc
concentrates leaches with the zinc resulting in manganese build
up in the zinc electrowinning process. It is thus vitally important
that manganese deportment be well understood in order to cor-
rectly design the refinery circuit.
Anglo Research (AR) has been involved in the feasibility studies
for Anglo American since the project was first announced (AARL
internal report). More recently there has been geological drilling
on the eastern part of the ore body and borehole core samples from
this area were submitted to AR for metallurgical test work. The aim
was to link the flotation response to the mineralogy of the ore body
and better understand the manganese and zinc deportments to the
feeds and products.
2. Experimental
2.1. Core samples

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 113774603; fax: +27 114961034. Since 2006, 15 cores in four batches obtained from the ore body
E-mail address: ddevaux@angloresearch.com (D. de Vaux). were submitted to Anglo Research. These had been subdivided into

0892-6875/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2010.03.013
 R. Schouwstra et al. / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 960–967 961

N
Johannesburg

North body
y
Overturned limb
Aggeneys

p Town
Cape

East body

GEOLOGICAL LEGEND
South body
Formation
o at o
Amphibolite
p
Koeris
Metapsammitic
p schist

Gams Gams formation

Donker Qtz. Dark q

quartzite
2 km
Wit Qtz. q
White quartzite

Namies Metapelitic
p schist

g
Hoogoor Q
Quartz-feldspar
p g gneiss

Fig. 1. Location and geology of Gamsberg deposit in North Western Cape, South Africa.

Table 1
60.00
Zinc and manganese concentrations per ore type.
Pelitic Ores
Garnet-magnetite Ores
wt.% Zinc wt.% Manganese
% Zn in Concentrate

Min. Max. Average Min. Max. Average

40.00
Garnet-magnetite 3.7 14.9 9.6 1.1 9.5 6.9
Pelitic 4.7 15.8 8.3 1.1 4.7 1.9

20.00
32 discrete samples which had in turn had been classified to min-
eralogical composition and grades into more than 10 ore types.
This was subsequently reduced to two ore types, namely a pelitic
ore and a garnet-magnetite ore. 0.00
0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00
The zinc and manganese concentrations for these ore bodies are
% Zinc Recovery
given in Table 1.
Given the low grade of the ore and the sensitivity to manganese Fig. 2. Zinc grades and recovery.
levels in the concentrate the pelitic ore would on the face of it ap-
pear to be the more attractive option. An option was to blend the
ore types in ratios that would produce concentrate grades that From the plots it is evident that:
were acceptable in terms of both zinc and manganese tenors.
 The pelitic ore exhibited a much more varied flotation response
2.2. Metallurgical tests than did the garnet-magnetite ore.
 Concentrates from the flotation of pelitic ore had on average
Standard batch flotation tests were carried out on 25 samples, significantly lower zinc grades.
the purpose being to compare the response of the two ore types.  The zinc losses to the pelitic ore tailings were higher than for
The aim at this stage was not to produce a saleable concentrate the garnet-magnetite ores.
or even to optimise the procedure. As such only rougher tests using  Manganese zinc ratios were worse in the pelitic ores than in the
a standard regime based on earlier work by AARL (AARL internal garnet-magnetite ores.
report) were done. Cleaning and locked cycle tests introduced  One sample in particular had an extremely poor flotation
excessive scatter and therefore in the interest of reproducibility response.
and given the requirements of the work the decision was taken
that well controlled rougher tests would provide enough informa- To better understand the reason for the worse flotation re-
tion to satisfy the project requirements. Optimisation and recovery sponse of the pelitic ore compared to the garnet-magnetite ore,
grade quantification could follow at a later stage if appropriate. The the various feeds to the flotation tests, as well as the resulting con-
procedure used involved a single stage grind to a p80 of 75 lm fol- centrates and tailings samples were analysed using a combination
lowed by a carbon flotation stage, a lead flotation stage and finally of mineralogical techniques.
the production of a zinc concentrate. Bulk modal and liberation characteristics were studied using
The grade recovery curves for zinc and manganese obtained QEMSCAN. For this method samples were screened into various
from the rougher flotation tests are depicted in Figs. 2 and 3. size fractions, analysed and the data recalculated back to head.
962 R. Schouwstra et al. / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 960–967

20.00 3.2. The deportment of sphalerite, iron sulphides and gangue minerals
Pelitic
P li i OOres
to the concentrates
% Mn in Concentrate

Garnet-magnetite Ores

15.00 The bulk mineralogical composition of the concentrates shows

10. 00
5.00
0.00
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00
% Zn in Concentrate
Fig. 3. Manganese and zinc in concentrates.
The composition of the sphalerites was determined using energy
dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) on at least a 100 sphalerite
grains per concentrate. Data was augmented with more detailed
electron microprobe data on sized fractions of concentrates using
the Spectrau Facility at the University of Johannesburg.
3. Mineralogical results and implications
3.1. The two ore types
The pelitic ore is characterised by a high Fe-sulphide content
whilst the garnet-magnetite ore is characterised by higher levels
of garnet, FeMn-silicates and magnetite. In both cases sphalerite
is the only Zn carrier, but manganese occurs in a number of differ-
ent minerals;
 in the sphalerite lattice (Fig. 4),
 in some FeMn-silicates, mainly pyroxmangite, which contains
12% Mn,
 in two types of garnet–spessartine (33% Mn) and almandine
(16%), and
 as the mineral alabandite (MnS) which contains 63% Mn.
Although the garnet-magnetite ore exhibits a higher manganese
content (Table 1) the mineralogical investigation indicated that the
bulk of the manganese occurs in the garnets and other silicates. It
should also be noted that in the pelitic ore there is generally a
greater deportment of the Mn in the sphalerite compared to the
garnet-magnetite ore (Fig. 4). These two factors imply that a low
Mn content in the feed does not necessarily mean a low Mn con-
tent in the concentrate.
that higher Fe-sulphide content (pyrite and pyrrhotite) of the pelit-
ic ore feeds is reflected in the concentrates. This higher Fe-sulphide
concentration has had a significant effect on the zinc grade of the
concentrates.
Fig. 5 compares the bulk mineralogy of the feed, concentrate
and tailings for two of the pelitic ore samples, clearly showing
the positive flotation of Fe-sulphides in this ore type.
Mineralogical data indicated that the sphalerite and Fe-sulp-
50.00 60.00 hides are generally both well liberated in the concentrates from
both ore types and hence liberation of the sphalerite is not the
main reason for the low grades.
Previous investigations carried out on a bulk sample of Gams-
berg ore (internal reports) have shown that optimisation of pH,
copper sulphate and collector dosages as well as collector types
can enhance the selectivity against Fe-sulphides during the rough-
er flotation stage. Although flotation optimisation was not the aim
of the current study, the high concentration of Fe-sulphides report-
ing to the concentrates will be addressed in future optimisation
work.
Another factor contributing to the lower Zn concentrate grade
observed for the pelitic ores is the difference in the Zn content of
the sphalerite between the pelitic and garnet-magnetite ores
(Fig. 4). For the pelitic ore the Zn content of the sphalerite was
on average 47.5% while the sphalerite present in the garnet-mag-
netite ore contained on average 55.5% Zn.
3.3. Manganese deportment to concentrate
A noticeably higher Mn concentration was determined in the
sphalerite lattice for the pelitic ore samples when compared to
the garnet-magnetite ores (Fig. 4).
This means that for the pelitic ores the concentrates will have a
higher manganese grade (and lower zinc grade) than the concen-
trates produced from the garnet-magnetite ores for equivalent
sphalerite contents. Fig. 6 summarises the mineralogical composi-
tion of the concentrates and illustrates the Mn deportment in the
two concentrates.
3.4. The deportment of sphalerite to the tailings
As can be seen in Fig. 7 the mineralogical examination of the flo-
tation tailings of a pelitic ore shows poorly liberated sphalerite
grains with the majority of sphalerite being associated with sili-
cates. The average size of the sphalerite grains was 52 lm and
hence a finer grind might reduce the sphalerite losses to the final

ZnS ZnS
0.00 1.00 0.00 1.00

Garnet-magnetite ore Pelitic ore

0.25 0.75 0.25 0.75

0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50

FeS 0.25 MnS FeS 0.25 MnS

Fig. 4. Ternary diagram highlighting the different sphalerite compositions for the two Gamsberg ore types investigated.
 R. Schouwstra et al. / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 960–967 963

100%
Other minerals

Pyrite
80%
Pyrrhotite
y

Fe Oxides
Fe-Oxides

Quartz
60%
Fe,Mn Silicates

Garnet
40% Sphalerite

20%

0%
Feed Conc Tailings Feed Conc Tailings
PELITIC 1 PELITIC 2

Fig. 5. Feed, concentrate and tailings bulk mineralogy of two pelitic ore samples.

Mineralogical composition of pelitic and Contribution of the various minerals in the

garnet-magnetite concentrates concentrate to the Mn content

100%
Alabandite Alabandite
3.0%
Mineral abundance in Concentrate

Almandine
Mn distribution in concentrate

80% Spessartine
Fe,Mn Silicates
Other minerals
60% 2.0%
Pyrrhotite
Pyrite
40% Sphalerite

1.0%

20%

0% 0%
Pelitic Ore Garnet-magnetite Ore Pelitic Ore Garnet-magnetite Ore

Fig. 6. Concentrate mineralogy and Mn deportment. Note that in the pelitic ore the Mn content is associated with sphalerite, whereas in the garnet-magnetite ore a
significant amount occurs with the silicates and can therefore be reduced by cleaning.

tailings. The liberation of the sphalerite in the tailings of a second The surface analysis laboratory at AR is fortunate in having both
pelitic ore (see Fig. 8) was much higher. The deportment of a high a Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (ToF-SIMS) and
percentage of well liberated sphalerite was difficult to explain and an X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS) in its possession. To-
required a more detailed investigation of the feeds and products gether they provide a powerful diagnostic facility for understand-
using different techniques. ing problems of this nature. Samples of feed and concentrate
from ‘‘normal” pelitic ore and the ore containing alabandite (pelit-
3.5. Alabandite ic + alabandite) were produced. Grains of sphalerite and alabandite
were handpicked under an optical microscope and analysed using
The ore with the liberated sphalerite losses (Fig. 8) stood out as both of these instruments.
being very different to all the others. Zinc recoveries of less than The XPS analyses were carried out with an Escalab 250 using a
10% were obtained at grades of less than 10% Zn. These concen- monochromatic Al K alpha source (15 kV, 150 W) and Lens Mode –
trates did however contain up to 20% manganese, three times high- Large Area XL. The instrument work function was calibrated to give
er than the next highest figure recorded. Not being able to explain a binding energy (BE) of 368.3 eV for the Ag 5d5/2 line for silver
the results obtained on this specific core, the concentrate was and the spectrometer dispersion was adjusted to give a BE of
examined in more detail, on which it was established that it con- 932.62 eV for the Cu 2p3/2 line of metallic copper. Binding energy
tained significant amounts of alabandite (MnS) and low levels of accuracy is ±0.025 eV. The Escalab charge neutraliser system was
sphalerite (Fig. 9). This in itself did not explain the poor zinc re- used on all specimens. Survey spectra were collected with pass en-
sponse, given that the Zn head grade of this sample was 8.5% and ergy of 150 eV and an analysis area of 500 lm. High-resolution
it would have been expected to have floated reasonably well. Fur- spectra (region scans) were obtained using a 40 eV pass energy
ther studies were therefore carried out to investigate the reagent and an analysis area of 500 lm. Spectra were analysed using Ther-
adsorption characteristics of sphalerite and alabandite. mo Avantage software (version 3.91). Charge compensation was
964 R. Schouwstra et al. / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 960–967

30.0
Sphalerite d50 = 52 µm
n= number of sphalerite grains

25.0 Locked (40%)

Medium Grade Middlings (11%)

n=160
High Grade Middlings (12%)
20.0
Distribution (%)
n=373 Liberated (37%)
n=769
n=1891 n=1143
15.0 n=34

10.0

n=3
5.0

0.0
<10 10-20 20-40 40-80 80-160 160-320 >320
Sphaleritegrain size categories (µm)

Fig. 7. Sphalerite liberation in the tailings from a pelitic ore. Note that locked particles contain <30% sphalerite; medium grade middlings contain 30–50% sphalerite, high
grade middlings contain 50–80% sphalerite and liberated grains contain >80% sphalerite.

30.0 Sphalerite d50 = 30 µm

n= number of sphalerite grains
n=1679
Locked (4%)
25.0
n=1671
Medium Grade Middlings (3%)

n=3584 High Grade Middlings (7%)

20.0
Distribution (%)

n=1779 Liberated (86%)

15.0

n=754

10.0

n=123
5.0

n=4

0.0
<10 10-20 20-40 40-80 80-160 160-320 >320
Sphaleritegrain size categories (µm)

Fig. 8. Sphalerite liberation in the tailings from a pelitic ore with poor flotation response.

Mineralogical composition of pelitic+ Mineralogical composition of pelitic+

alabandite ore and Mn distribution in this alabandite concentrate and the Mn
ore type distribution in this conentrate
100% 100% 14.0%

Quartz
Mineral abundance in Concentrate

80% 80%
Mn distribution in concentrate

Alabandite
Mineral abundance in feed

Almandine

60% 60% Spessartine

4.0% Fe,Mn Silicates
Mn distribution in feed

Other minerals
40% 40%
Pyrrhotite

2.0% Pyrite
2.0%
20% 20% Sphalerite

0% 0% 0% 0%

Fig. 9. Mineralogical composition and manganese distributions of pelitic + alabandite ore.

 R. Schouwstra et al. / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 960–967 965

2.5 viz. alabandite from the pelitic + alabandite ore and sphalerite from
Pelitic+Alabandite Feed, ZnS Grains
Pelitic+Alabandite Conc, MnS Grains
the normal pelitic ore sample. Matrix effects will play a roll during
2 Pelitic Feed, ZnS Grains the XPS analyses and this is observed in Fig. 11 where the alaban-
Pelitic Conc, ZnS Grains dite mineral species causes a shift in the binding energy (BE), how-
1.5 ever, the trends would still be valid.
At. %

The results show a much higher copper surface coverage on the

1
alabandite mineral from the pelitic + alabandite concentrate than
the sphalerite grains from either the feed or the concentrate from
the normal pelitic ore sample. The indication is that the copper has
0.5 preferentially adsorbed on the alabandite mineral surface in the
pelitic + alabandite concentrate sample. This would explain why
0 the sphalerite mineral surface in pelitic + alabandite feed sample
Cu2p3
has such low copper adsorption and low sphalerite flotation
Fig. 10. Atomic % copper on surfaces of MnS and ZnS grains from two ore types. response.
The ToF-SIMS analyses were carried out to confirm the results
obtained by XPS and give a visual representation of the surface
2.50E+04 alteration and link the results to the flotation recovery. ToF-SIMS
Alabandite analysis is a well-established technique in determining the occur-
2.00E+04 rence of atomic/molecular species on the surface of mineral
samples.
Surface analysis of the minerals was carried out using a PHI
Counts / s

1.50E+04
Sphalerite in Pelitic Ore Ore
1.00E+04
5.00E+03
Sphalerite in Alabandite Ore
0.000E+0
950 940 930
Binding Energy (eV)
Fig. 11. XPS spectra illustrating copper species on ZnS and MnS grains.
used. Note in the C 1s spectra for each sample that the charge com-
pensation can be different on each surface. The C 1s peak was ref-
erenced to a binding energy (BE) for uncharged hydrocarbon at
284.8 eV and binding energies in all other spectra for the sample
corrected for this shift.
The results indicate, when comparing the two feed samples,
that the sphalerite in normal pelitic ore has a much higher copper
surface coverage compared to sphalerite in pelitic + alabandite ore
(Fig. 10). This result suggests that copper has not adsorbed on the
sphalerite grains in the pelitic + alabandite ore as would be ex-
pected. The copper speciation on the mineral surfaces in normal
pelitic ore is in the form of Cu(I) which is the hydrophobic species
required for a good flotation response (Fig. 11).
When comparing the concentrates for both ore types it should
be pointed out that two different minerals species were compared,
TRIFT IV ToF-SIMS instrument operating in the static SIMS regime.
Throughout the study a 25 kV, 100 lm-Au1 unbunched cluster
beam with charge compensation was used. Areas (300  300 lm)
of the feed samples for the pelitic + alabandite and normal pelitic
ore samples were imaged for Zn, Mn and Cu during positive ion
analysis and S and xanthate during negative ion analysis. It must
be noted that the ToF-SIMS values are relative and not absolute.
The ToF-SIMS total, Zn and S ion images of a sphalerite (ZnS)
grain in normal pelitic ore feed are shown in Fig. 12.
Copper ion activation of sphalerite is necessary for sphalerite
recovery by flotation due to the fact that the copper–xanthate
complexes are more stable when compared to the copper–zinc
complexes. The copper–xanthate complexes induce hydrophobic-
ity of the sphalerite grains which would ultimately result in a high
flotation response. As shown in Fig. 13, the copper and xanthate
ions are readily adsorbed onto the sphalerite grain.
Fig. 14 shows ToF-SIMS total, Zn, Mn and S ion images of sphal-
erite (ZnS) and alabandite (MnS) grains in the pelitic + alabandite
ore feed, while Fig. 15 gives the corresponding ToF-SIMS total, cop-
per and xanthate ion images.
The images in Fig. 15 for pelitic + alabandite ore show higher
surface concentrations of copper and xanthate on the alabandite
mineral surface compared to the sphalerite mineral surface. The
copper has thus preferentially adsorbed on the alabandite mineral
surface rather than sphalerite surface in this sample. This would
explain why such a low sphalerite flotation response and a high
alabandite flotation response were observed for the pelit-
ic + alabandite ore. Moreover if the copper and xanthate ion

Sphalerite

Total ion image Zn ion image S ion image

Fig. 12. ToF-SIMS analyses of the normal pelitic ore feed sample showing the total, zinc and sulphur ion images.
966 R. Schouwstra et al. / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 960–967

Sphalerite

Total ion image Cu ion image Xanthate ion image

Fig. 13. ToF-SIMS analyses of the normal pelitic ore feed sample showing the total, copper and xanthate ion images.

Alabandite

Sphalerite

Total ion image Zn ion image Mn ion image S ion image

Fig. 14. ToF-SIMS analyses of the pelitic + alabandite ore feed sample showing the total, zinc, manganese and sulphur ion images.

Alabandite

Sphalerite

Total ion image Cu ion image Xanthate ion image

Fig. 15. ToF-SIMS analyses of the pelitic + alabandite ore feed sample showing the total, copper and xanthate ion images.

surface coverage of a sphalerite grain from the normal pelitic ore
sample (Fig. 13) is compared with one from the pelitic + alabandite
ore (Fig. 15) sample, it is evident that the copper and xanthate sur-
face coverage is much higher on the normal pelitic ore sample
which had the better flotation response.
4. Discussion
It is important in a study of this nature to look at the results
using the various approaches collectively in order to get a com-
plete picture of the implications of concentrating this ore body.
The link between mineralogy and flotation response and their
implications for downstream refining are clear. Mining and pro-
cessing of this ore according to zinc and manganese grades will
not be the preferred option. The high zinc and low manganese
grades of the pelitic ore are less likely to translate into accept-
able concentrates than the apparently inferior quality garnet-
magnetite ore. The sphalerite in the garnet-magnetite ore is
more easily recovered and upgraded due to the lower iron sul-
phide content. Moreover the fact that the manganese occurs pre-
dominantly in the silicates in this ‘‘inferior” ore also implies a
better quality concentrate and this is borne out by the flotation
results. The potential problem that the mineral alabandite pre-
sents is also highlighted. Its occurrence does not appear to be
 R. Schouwstra et al. / Minerals Engineering 23 (2010) 960–967
widespread but the role players are now aware of it and can put
measures in place to deal with it should the problem arise.
Moreover, careful mining and blending of the ore types will
probably be required to meet the target grades and recoveries.
Of course it must be emphasized that the results reported in this
study are based on rougher tests only on a small set of cores
from one part of the ore body. Much optimisation work is re-
quired before final flotation recoveries can be predicted. Never-
theless the work has provided a significant insight into the
link between mineralogy and the flotation potential of this ore
body and shown the worth of a multi disciplinary approach to
work of this nature.
967
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Anglo Base for permission to publish
this work and Anglo Platinum for providing the equipment that
was used to conduct the surface analysis studies.
References
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