361
Tin in Africa
Judith A. Kinnaird, Paul A.M. Nex, Lorenzo Milani
EGRI, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand. E-mail: Judith.kinnaird@wits.ac.za
DOI: 10.18814/epiiugs/2016/v39i2/95783
Tin has been mined in Nigeria since the 9th century
with the famous Benin Bronzes dating from the 13th
century. Significant African tin production began at the
beginning of the 20th century and maximum output was
reached in the 1970s. Since then production has declined
to less than 2% of world output.
Across Africa, deposits range in age from Archaean
in Zimbabwe and Palaeoproterozoic in South Africa, to
Mesozoic and Pleistocene in Nigeria. Major eras of tin
mineralisation however, are related to continental
amalgamation at the end of the Proterozoic era, with
deposits in Neoproterozoic Pan-African belts in Namibia,
Nigeria, Rwanda, Somaliland, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe. In the Mesozoic,
cassiterite mineralisation was associated with
voluminous granite magmatism during Gondwana
fragmentation in Nigeria, Cameroon and Namibia. Tin
provinces occur in Nigeria, South Africa and Namibia,
where the cassiterite mineralisation occurs within
rocks of very different ages.
The style of tin deposits include disseminations in
granite cupolas, lode-style mineralisation, either as
endogranitic or exogranitic veins, rare metal pegmatites,
veins not directly associated with granites and as eluvial
and alluvial deposits. Pegmatite occurrences are
described in Nigeria, Namibia, Rwanda, DRC and
Zimbabwe. Granite-hosted and stockwork deposits are
detailed for Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia,
Sudan and Egypt, while vein and lode-hosted deposits
are discussed for Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda and
Somaliland. Alluvial deposits are described mainly in
Nigeria, Cameroon, and the DRC.
Introduction
Tin is a soft, silvery white, chemically stable, non-toxic, and highly
malleable metal with a low melting point of 232°C. It is used for
solder, tin plating, bronze, brass and pewter, as well as in the chemicals
industry. Tin is recognised by a number of governments as a critical
metal that is strategic to the needs of their technological industries
for its use as a tin-indium oxide in electronic touch screens. A collapse
of the tin cartel and price in 1985 led to closure of some marginal
operations world-wide, and until 2004, price was generally US$ 2-3
Episodes Vol. 39, no. 2
per pound. In mid-2004, the tin price rose from US$ ~2 a pound to
over US$ 10 a pound in 2008. Following the world economic
downturn the price rose episodically to reach over US$ 14 a pound in
2010 but has largely fallen in value since then. Nevertheless, the tin
market is expected to show an overall positive trend, in spite of major
price fluctuations, due to demand for the metal in electronic
equipment. At year-end 2015, the price was just below US$ 7 per
pound, but in view of the critical need for tin, the price is expected to
increase as world economics improve.
About 35 countries mine tin throughout the world. Nearly every
continent has an important tin-mining country. The major African
countries historically known for their tin production are Nigeria, South
Africa, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Namibia
and Zimbabwe. Minor tin (Sn), tantalum (Ta) and niobium (Nb)
operations are also known from Burundi, Cameroon, Niger, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Somaliland, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique
and Uganda. At present, the principal producers of tin in Africa are
the small-scale and artisanal miners, mainly in the DRC and Rwanda.
By 2013, Africa only produced 2.7% of the world’s tin production
with the DRC producing 3,000 tonnes, Rwanda 1,900 tonnes and
Nigeria 570 tonnes (USGS, 2013). Renewed mining at historical
sources such as the Kamativi Mine in Zimbabwe, the northern
Bushveld of South Africa, or new sites in Nigeria and Morocco are
expected to boost the production as world demand increases.
Early history of tin production in Africa
Tin is one of the earliest metals known and used by humankind.
Because of its hardening effect on copper, tin was used in bronze
implements as early as 3500 BC, although the pure metal was not
used until about 600 BC. In Nigeria, exquisite bronze artifacts from
three sites in the Igbo-Ukwu area, Anambra State (Fig. 1a), have been
dated to the 9th century AD (Wikipedia, 2014). These pre-dated the
more famous Benin bronzes, with early sculptures dating from the
13th century but a large part of the collection originating in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries. Although iron and copper were used in
southern Africa from 200 to 300 AD, there was apparently no tin or
bronze use until the 13th century AD (Miller, 2002; Killick, 2009).
Bronzes dated between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries have
been excavated in northern South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe
(Miller, 2002; Chirikure et al., 2007; Denbow and Miller, 2007). The
locations of these finds are shown in Fig. 1b. Only one tin ingot has
been found in good archaeological context at Great Zimbabwe, and
this has been dated at between 1450 and 1550 AD but it is not known
when the production of tin and bronze began in this region (Chirikure
et al., 2010).
In South Africa, tin was mined from the Rooiberg area of the
Bushveld Complex at least 500 years ago, based on the dating of an
old timber prop (1515 AD, Friede and Steel, 1976) and of a piece of
charcoal in a tin ingot (Grant, 1994). Tin-smelting slags at two sites
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(a)
Fig. 1. Location of some archaeological sites in Nigeria and Southern Africa. (a) General geology map of Nigeria showing the site of the 9th
century Igbo-Ukwu bronze and tin artefacts, the location of the Benin Kingdom and the location of the northeast orientated pegmatite belt
(after Kinnaird, 1984). (b) Southern Africa, where bronze and tin artefacts have been excavated (Map of Simon Hall in Chirikure et al.,
2010).
near Rooiberg date between ca. 1650 and ~1850 AD (Chirikure et
al., 2010). Copper deposits in the Rooiberg valley, give two accelerator
mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates on charcoal trapped in
an arsenical copper ingot found at surface, of between 1025 and
1285 AD (Grant et al., 1994). Baumann (1919) estimated the amount
of ore mined in the Rooiberg Valley before 1905 at about 20,000
tons, and thought that some 2,000 tonnes of tin ore might have been
produced from it. A more recent estimate by Rooiberg mine geologists
gave the total mass of rock mined before 1905 as 180,000 tonnes,
with 1,000 tonnes of tin ore (Rozendaal and Kellaway, 1988, cited in
Grant, 1994).
Tin production since the 1900s
In the DRC there has been a long history of tin production,
although in recent times mining has declined considerably, due to
instability and political/religious clashes, which, since the mid-1990s,
has left the control of the commodity to armed groups. Nevertheless,
in 2007-2008 the cassiterite export from the DRC was estimated at
18,000-25,000 tonnes (Garrett and Mitchell, 2009) and, after the
government ban on all mineral exports in 2010 was lifted in 2012,
strong political support and social development programmes have
led to the country becoming the leading African tin producer, with an
output of ~3,000 tonnes of cassiterite in 2013.
In Rwanda, primary mineralisation and alluvial/eluvial deposits
have been mined since the early 1930s, when Belgian companies
promoted the mining activity. In the 1970s, state-controlled companies
took over and only since 2007 have mining licences been granted to
private national/international companies, although most of the mines
operate at the artisanal scale. The annual tin export between 2009
and 2011 was 2,400 to 3,000 tonnes, as the government has been
working to reform the sector in order to ensure that mining is able to
boost economic growth, but in 2013 only ~2,000 tonnes were
produced (USGS, 2015), making it the second largest cassiterite
producer on the continent.
In Nigeria tin has been prospected for and mined by western
(b)
companies since 1904. Before the discovery of oil, tin mining was
the major revenue generator and source of foreign exchange in the
country. It was mined by several international companies as well as
small-scale local operators. During the Second World War, tin –
together with Nb and Ta – was mined to supply the needs of the war
effort. Tin production boomed during the 1950s, hitting 12,000 tonnes,
but the subsequent depletion of subsurface deposits, coupled with a
downturn of the tin price, led to a reduction of production from ~3,800
tonnes in 1979, to less than 3,200 tonnes in 1981, and then to 203
tonnes in 1995. The past 10 years record a cyclic trend, with a
production rising from 790 tonnes in 2002, to 1,818 tonnes in 2006,
then dropping again to a minimum of 229 tonnes in 2007. In 2013
the total tin production was 570 tonnes but was estimated as 500
tonnes in 2014 (USGS, 2015). Extensive alluvial cassiterite deposits
underlie the Ngell basalts of Plateau State and smaller deposits occur
in the states of Bauchi, Nassarawa, Federal Capital Territory (FCT),
Kano, Kaduna, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo and Osun (Bamalli et al., 2011).
Exploration and production from these sites might be stimulated with
an increased commodity price.
In Somaliland large crystals of cassiterite were recovered from
Pan-African pegmatites in 1956. Other prospects have potential for
small-scale artisanal exploitation, but no large-scale commercial
potential.
In Zimbabwe, the Kalinda and Kamativi mines were active until
1994, producing 1,200 t/yr of cassiterite by the end of their production
life.
In South Africa, the historic tin mines of the Rooiberg area
(Fig. 1b) were reopened from 1905, by miners of European descent,
followed by other major producers at the Union and Zaaiplaats mines
in 1908 (du Toit and Pringle, 1998). Rooiberg produced 83,000 tonnes
of tin metal from first production until 1992 (Labuschagne, 2004),
while the Zaaiplaats tin field produced 37,079 tonnes of metallic tin
between 1909 and closure (Falcon, 1985).
Reported smelter production of tin metal ceased in South Africa
in 1992 and in Nigeria and Rwanda in 2005 and 2006, respectively
(USGS, 2008) and no formal tin smelter has been operational in
June 2016

Africa since this date. In 2012, African tin mine production decreased
by about 26% compared with that of 2011 and by 2014 the total
tonnage was ~127,500 (USGS, 2015). The Abu Dabbab project in
Egypt is a 44.5 million tonne deposit with 0.09% tin that started
production in 2013. Output decreased at artisanal and small-scale
mining operations in the DRC and in 2014 the DRC accounted for
59% of African tin mine production, Rwanda, 23%; Nigeria, 9%;
and Egypt, 6%. No refined tin was produced in Africa in 2012.
Occurrence of tin
Cassiterite (SnO2) is the only commercial ore of tin, although
locally minerals like stannite, nigerite or wodginite are noted.
Cassiterite generally forms small crystals that are dark brown to black
in colour with a sub-adamantine lustre, although red and yellow
crystals do sometimes occur, depending on the trace element content
and occasionally wood tin has been recorded in Nigeria (Kinnaird,
1987) and at Bisie in the DRC. The style of deposit may be quite
variable and includes disseminations and stockworks in granite
cupolas, lode-style mineralisation, either as endogranitic or exogranitic
veins in Namibia, Nigeria, Morocco, Rwanda and Somaliland, rare
metal pegmatites throughout Africa over several epochs, quartz veins
not directly associated with granites and as eluvial and alluvial deposits
in the DRC and Nigeria, which locally have, or have had, huge
economic viability.
 In Africa, five episodes of tin enrichment are recognised (Fig. 2);
1 Archaean pre- 2500 Ma, represented by generally small-scale
Fig. 2. Map of significant African Sn-(Nb-Ta) pegmatite and Sn-(Nb-Ta) granite provinces
(modified after Melcher et al., 2015)
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363
deposits on the Man Shield in West Africa, the Congo Craton,
the Zimbabwe Craton and the Kaapvaal Craton.
2 Palaeoproterozoic, ca. 2000 Ma, in the Birimian Province of
West Africa, the Ubendian Belt in Central Africa and the
Bushveld Complex in South Africa.
3 Early Neoproterozoic, ca. 1000 to 900 Ma in the Kibaran Belt
of Central Africa, in the Kamativi Belt in Zimbabwe, and in the
Orange River-Namaqua Province of Namibia and South Africa.
4 The late Neoproterozoic to early Pan-African Palaeozoic belts
of ca. 600 to 500 Ma age that resulted from the amalgamation
of Gondwana, are found across much of Africa, with late to
post tectonic intrusions of a number of granites, pegmatites and
mineralised veins having taken place in the period 550 to 490
Ma. Rare metal mineralisation associated with these granites
and pegmatites is common in many countries on the African
Nubian Shield, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Saudi
Arabia and Egypt and on the West African shield in Nigeria, in
the Kibaran belt of Rwanda and the DRC; in the Mozambique
Belt of eastern Africa and the Damara Belt in Namibia.
5 The Mesozoic ca. 190 to 141 Ma, alkaline ring complexes of
the Jos Plateau in Nigeria, which form part of the Niger-Nigeria
complexes that range in age from Ordovician at Adrar Bous, to
upper Jurassic at Afu (Bowden et al., 1976).
In addition, Pleistocene to Recent alluvial concentrations derived
from granites and pegmatites of varying ages occur particularly in
Nigeria and the DRC.
Tin provinces occur in Nigeria, South Africa and Namibia. These
are areas where the tin mineralisation
occurs within rocks of very different
ages. For example, in Nigeria,
cassiterite occurs in Pan-African
pegmatites, Mesozoic ring complexes
and in Pleistocene alluvial deposits.
Similarly, in Namibia cassiterite forms
as a common accessory in Pan-African
pegmatites and locally in a few
Mesozoic, A-type anorogenic alkaline
ring complexes that have been mined
in the past (Pirajno and Jacob, 1987).
The various tin provinces that are
covered in this paper are (i) West Africa
(ii) Northeast Africa (iii) East Africa
(iv) Southern Africa, as shown in
Fig. 2. Within each of the regions, the
occurrences of the different ages are
described.
(i) Tin in West Africa
In West Africa, the oldest basement
rocks, ca. 3.5 Ga in age, border the
southeastern margin of the West African
Craton (WAC) (Kroner et al., 2001)
(Fig. 2). The terranes of the WAC were
affected by the Eburnian orogeny (ca.
2.0 Ga) and consolidated as a craton
during a long period of tectonic stability
from 1.7 to 1.0 Ga (Liégeois, et al.,
2013). Extensional events associated
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with continental breakup affected the WAC in the early
Neoproterozoic, favouring passive margin-type sedimentation and
developing the youngest basement rocks, represented by pelitic to
psammitic terranes distributed along north-south-trending belts, with
localised calc-alkaline volcanic occurrences (Kinnaird, 1984). During
Gondwana assembly, the WAC was subjected to convergence along
all its boundaries, and its eastern passive margin collided with an
active continental margin to the east, partially remobilising other
cratonic areas to the east (Ennih and Liégeois, 2008 and references
therein). Ophiolite occurrence along the northern margin of the craton
ca. 750 to 700 Ma (Leblanc, 1976; Samson et al., 2004) and back arc
facies in Nigeria, (Fitches et al., 1985), record the closure of an oceanic
basin and the development of a Pan-African orogenic belt across much
of West Africa (Liégeois, et al., 2013). Magmatism related to closure
was characterised by an ‘Older Granite’ suite of calc-alkaline,
subalkaline and alkaline felsic intrusions (ca. 600 Ma) and ended
with emplacement of numerous tin mineralised pegmatitic belts ~550
Ma (Kinnaird, 1984). Later anorogenic magmatism, generated during
crustal thinning in response to the breakup of Gondwana, resulted in
a series of more than 50 ring complexes which extend from northern
Niger to south central Nigeria (Kinnaird, 1984).
In West Africa, small-scale occurrences of cassiterite occur in
pegmatites of Archaean to Neoproterozoic age. Cassiterite occurs
disseminated in granites of Archaean, Palaeoproterozoic and Cambrian
age. However, it is the Mesozoic granites of the Jos Plateau in Nigeria
that have overwhelmingly dominated the tin production of West Africa.
Late Archaean to early Proterozoic
Alluvial deposits of columbite-tantalite, cassiterite and rutile,
related to late to post-orogenic granites of granite-greenstone terrains,
are known from the Man Shield in Sierra Leone (Wright et al., 1986)
(Fig. 2). A concentrate investigated by Melcher et al. (2015) produced
columbite ages ranging from 2600 to 2850 Ma. Palaeoproterozoic
pegmatites associated with Eburnean granites have produced small
quantities of cassiterite, columbite-tantalite, beryl and lithium micas
in southern Upper Volta, southeast of Bamako in southwestern Mali
and near Tera, in southwestern Niger (Wright et al., 1986).
Birimian, or Eburnean-age (2100 to 2000 Ma) pegmatites are
known from greenstone belts and sedimentary basins in West Africa
including Burkina Faso, Ghana, south-western Mali, southwestern
Niger and the Côte d’Ivoire. These pegmatites occasionally contain
small concentrations of Nb, Ta, beryllium (Be), lithium (Li), and Sn
e.g. at Issia, in Côte d’Ivoire (Allou et al., 2005; Varlamoff, 1972)
and at Kokobin near Akim-Oda, Ghana (Bering, 1976), although the
economic potential of these is considered minimal. Melcher et al.
(2008) gave Paleoproterozoic ages of between 2070 and 2085 Ma
for pegmatites.
Late Proterozoic to early Palaeozoic
In Nigeria, magmatism related to Gondwana assembly (~600 Ma)
produced a suite of calc-alkaline, subalkaline and alkaline felsic
intrusions (‘Older Granites’) and ended with the emplacement of
numerous tin mineralised pegmatites of ~560 to 450 Ma (Kinnaird,
1984; Matheis, 1987; Melcher et al., 2015). A northeast-southwest
striking system of ca. 3,000 pegmatitic veins, each up to 1.5 km long
and 50 m wide, extends for more than 400 km (Fig. 1a). There are
seven different pegmatitic fields within this belt: in the southwest
these are the Oke-Ogun and Lema-Share-Ndeji pegmatites that cut
pelitic to semi-pelitic schists with minor associated amphibolites and
dolerites, the Ibadan-Osogbo and Ijero-Aramoku pegmatites that
intrude gneisses, granites and meta-volcanics (Okunlola, 2005) and
the Kabba-Isanlu pegmatites. In central Nigeria there are the
Nasarawa-Keffi and Kushaka-Birni Gwari areas (Wright, 1970;
Kinnaird, 1984; Melcher et al., 2015) (Fig. 2). The majority of these
bodies occur as tabular undeformed pegmatitic dykes, or sills, which
underwent stretching to produce pinch and swell structures.
The late Pan-African pegmatites were emplaced in a shear setting
characterised by a system of rotational conjugate fractures (northeast-
southwest and northwest-southeast trending, Ball, 1980; Goodenough
et al., 2014). The belt is considered to represent the northeastern
extension of the Brazilian pegmatite belt, which strikes from Rio
Grande del Sul, to Rio Grande del Norte (Keller et al., 1995; Akintola
and Adekeye, 2008). The major minerals comprising the pegmatites
are potassic-feldspar, sodium-plagioclase, quartz and minor
muscovite/biotite, with a variety of accessory minerals including
lepidolite, tourmaline, beryl, chrysoberyl, apatite, amblygonite,
monazite, lithiophyllite, triphyllite, gahnite, cassiterite, wodginite,
nigerite, columbo-tantalite, stibiotantalite, tapiolite, microlite,
bismuthinite, bismuthite, scheelite, rutile, magnetite, andalusite and
sillimanite (Kinnaird, 1984). Local artisanal operators have long been
exploiting alluvial cassiterite derived from these pegmatites
(Obomhense, 2008). To the southwest, the Iregun pegmatite produced
columbite, tantalite and gold, in addition to cassiterite. In the Ijero
pegmatite, cassiterite is intergrown with quartz-sillimanite nodules,
while at Egbe (Kabba-Isanlu field) nigerite, a tin-rich variety of
gahnite, was first described (Matheis, 1987). In the central part of the
belt, the Nassarawa area hosts Sn-Nb-Ta-Be-Li pegmatites, where
cassiterite, together with columbite, was recovered as a by-product
of tantalite mining.
In southeastern Nigeria, a swarm of Sn-mineralised pegmatites,
related to Pan-African granodiorites (Ekwueme and Matheis, 1995;
Oden et al., 2013), lie outside the main pegmatite belt. No tin
production figures are available from these pegmatites.
Whilst cassiterite production is much less than from the placer
deposits on the Jos Plateau, artisanal mining produced 247 tonnes of
cassiterite, 13 tonnes of columbite and 5 tonnes of tantalite from the
Ijero pegmatites between 1944 and 1970 (Obomhense, 2008); whilst
the Kabba-Isanlu field in the Egbe area, produced 117 tonnes of
cassiterite and 39 tonnes of columbite-tantalite between 1950 and
1970 (Schaetzl, 1971).
Palaeozoic
Morocco
The Achmmach tin prospect of northern Morocco, was discovered
in 1985 following stream sediment sampling. It is located on the
western edge of the El Hajeb province, 140 km southeast of Rabat. It
consists of two Exploitation Permits covering an area of ~32 km2,
currently 75% owned by Kasbah Resources. The cassiterite occurs in
north northeast-striking vertical, tourmaline-rich or quartz veins that
carry minor sulphides. The veins cross-cut tightly folded Visean-
Namurian turbidite beds, locally showing shear zones overprinted by
tourmaline alteration. These vertical structures are regarded as having
channelled fluids that emanated from an Hercynian granite, producing
the tourmaline alteration halo and cassiterite mineralisation. Kasbah
June 2016
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Resources commenced exploration in 2007 and defined a maiden ore
reserve in March 2014, of 8.45 Mt grading 0.78% tin. The first tin
production from Achmmach is expected in the first quarter of 2016
(Kasbah Resources, 2014). When in production, the mine is expected
to deliver ~1 Mt a year of ore and produce about 5,300 t/y of tin
concentrate, over a life-of-mine of nine years. This would make
Achmmach the 8th largest tin mine in the world and the largest tin
mine in Africa. Kasbah Resources also has the Bou El Jaj Tin Project,
10 km from Achmmach, which is at an early stage of exploration.
hydrothermal alteration of many granites modified their alkali content
with early high-temperature sodic metasomatism in peralkaline to
metaluminous granites, to subsequent potassic-metasomatism of the
later biotite-granites. Greisenisation followed, with cassiterite as the
main ore, accompanied by wolframite, rutile and minor columbite,
either as pervasive and disseminated mineralisation, or as stockworks,
or in ring-fractures (Kinnaird, 1985). Late-stage silica metasomatism
was responsible for the deposition of Cu-Zn-Pb sulphides (Kinnaird,
1985).

Niger
A series of anorogenic ring complexes were
intruded into the migmatitic basement of the Aïr
Mountains in southern Niger, in response to crustal
tension during Gondwana fragmentation (Fig. 3). They
are aligned along a series of embryonic rifts and form
a large province in an area 1,600 km long and 200 km
wide, stretching from Niger to the Benue Valley in
Nigeria (Bowden and Kinnaird, 1984). The Niger
province ranges from lower Palaeozoic in Aïr (480 to
400), to Carboniferous in the Damagaram of southern
Niger (Kinnaird and Bowden, 1991). Biotite granites
were the latest in the sequence of granitic intrusions
and these are mineralised at Tin Tajet, Sirret, Agalak
and Baguezans, while granite-hosted, cassiterite-
bearing greisens, occur in the El Meki, Guissat and
Taghouadji complexes (Kinnaird and Bowden, 1991).
These carry cassiterite with wolframite and more rarely
beryl or sulphides and are cut by later veins of fluorite
± barite, sometimes extending into the overlying
volcanics. In the Taghouadji complex the greisens
carry TiO2 minerals, zircon, columbite, sphalerite,
pyrite and pyrrhotite, whilst quartz veins contain
cassiterite, pyrrhotite, fluorite, beryl, pyrite, sphalerite,
molybdenite, arsenopyrite, galena and native bismuth
(Kinnaird and Bowden, 1991). No production figures
are known and it is not clear if any artisanal production
still continues.

Mesozoic
Nigeria
The anorogenic ‘Younger granites’ of Nigeria are
the southern extension of the anorogenic ring
complexes of Niger. They range in age from 258 Ma
at Masena on the Niger border to 141 Ma at Afu
(Bowden et al., 1976). The complexes, which vary
from 2 to 25 km in diameter, are spread over an area
of ca. 7,500 km2 , with composite affinities of
peralkaline, peraluminous and metaluminous
geochemistry. The complexes represent the eroded
roots of volcanoes where an initial volcanic phase
was followed by caldera collapse, with the resulting
circular vertical conduits promoting granite Fig. 3. The Mesozoic anorogenic ring complexes of Nigeria showing the less eroded,
emplacement by piecemeal stoping (Kinnaird, 1985). volcanic dominated complexes of the north and the more eroded complexes to the
Volcanic rocks are preserved in northern complexes south. The Ririwai and Tibchi complexes are characterised by major tin-bearing lodes
but rarely in southern complexes. Extensive late-stage (after Kinnaird, 1981).

Episodes Vol. 39, no. 2

366
Disseminated mineralisation in granite roof zones is known
historically at Dutsen Ginshi in the Ririwai Complex, in the Baban
area of the Banke Complex, in the Jos-Bukuru Complex and in the
Rishi area of the Saiya Shokobo complex (Kinnaird, 1987). Minor
cassiterite-bearing pegmatite pods and lenses occur but generally these
are not economically relevant, although quartz-chlorite veins and
quartzo-feldspathic pegmatites of the Dutsen Shetu porphyry of the
Ririwai Complex have been worked in the past for cassiterite (Kinnaird
et al., 1985). Mining of the albitised roof zone at Odegi and Rafin
Gabas in the Afu complex and at the Jantar deposit in the Jos
Bukuru Complex, has focussed on disseminated columbite (Fig. 3).
Disseminated cassiterite mineralisation has been known since the early
20th century, but there has been no exploitation of these potential
deposits, rather it is the erosion of this cassiterite that has been
concentrated in the rich alluvial tinfields of the Jos Plateau and
elsewhere. Where jointing and fracturing of the granites provided
passageways for fluids, mineralised lodes developed, rather than
disseminated ore (Kinnaird, 1985).
Mesozoic tin-bearing lodes
There are two major cassiterite-bearing lodes in Nigeria that have
previously been worked. These occur in biotite granites of the adjacent
complexes of Tibchi and Ririwai (Fig. 3). In both complexes the central
biotite granites have an elliptical shape and the lodes follow the central
axis which, in the Tibchi complex, is orientated northwest-southeast
whereas, in Ririwai, it is east-west (Fig. 4). In both complexes the
lodes are the product of several alteration processes with fluids
channelled in enlarged steeply dipping tectonic master joints, which
opened during the continued uplift stage. There were several phases
of deposition of the major ore minerals during successive phases of
hydrothermal alteration events, with mineralisation successively
emplaced in the same lode system. The Ririwai lode extends east-
(a)
Fig. 4. Geological maps of tin mineralised ring complexes in Nigeria (a)
The Ririwai Complex showing the central tin-bearing biotite granite and
the east-west orientated Ririwai lode (after Jacobsen et al., 1958, Kinnaird,
1981; 1987). (b) Part of the Tibchi Complex showing the lodes in the biotite
granite (Kinnaird, 1987).
west for 5 km and to over 400 m in depth and dips to the south at 85°
(Kinnaird et al., 1985), with a maximum surface width of 8 m (Fig.
4a). The lode comprises a series of parallel to subparallel or braided
quartz veins enclosed by zones of grey-green greisen, grading
outwards through reddened microclinised wallrock into a pale pink
equigranular biotite perthite granite. An oxide assemblage of ore
minerals, dominated by cassiterite, occurs within the greisen and wall
rock. A sulphide assemblage of ores, dominated by sphalerite, was
introduced with the quartz veins. Sphalerite is more abundant than
cassiterite, but the weathering and decomposition of the sulphides at
surface has given a false impression of the relative abundance of the
sulphide and oxide ores and no sphalerite has been mined. About 50
tonnes of wolframite were extracted from the west of the lode during
the Second World War and small scale cassiterite mining has taken
place over several decades. During the 1970s the Nigerian Mining
Corporation opened up the lode with two ramps leading to levels at
30 m intervals, to a depth of 170 m. Original estimated production
figures suggested that a mine could produce 1600 tonnes of tin metal
a year and around 6,000 tonnes of zinc (Kinnaird, 1985). Figures
published by the Nigerian Ministry of Mines and Steel Development
in 2014, suggest that measured reserves based on a cut-off grade of
0.2% Sn are 582,668 tonnes at 0.7% Sn and 2.56% Zn, with indicated
reserves of 2,830,351 tonnes at 0.61% Sn and 2.05% Zn.
There are two lode systems in the Tibchi Complex: one orientated
north northwest-south southeast (Fig. 4b), is between 3 and 15 m
wide and more than 1 km long, and the one orientated northwest-
southeast (Fig. 4b), which has a strike length of over 2 km (Kinnaird,
1985). In the south of the north northwest-south southeast lode,
reddened quartz veins are rich in cassiterite and wolframite with an
almost complete absence of sulphides. The northwest-southeast lode
follows the main axis of the elliptical biotite perthite granite. It has a
reddened microcline-rich outer facies, grading through a greenish
grey greisen, to fissure-filling quartz, which is sometimes massive
(b)
June 2016

and milky and sometimes well crystallised. The lode is well exposed
on Kogo Hill, which rises 100 m above the surrounding biotite granite.
The lode is sphalerite-dominant, but only cassiterite and wolframite
have been surface mined on a small scale for many years. Unlike the
Ririwai Complex, the Tibchi mineralised veins extend out into the
basement, which overlies the biotite granite but in both complexes
the lode system is confined within the outer ring dyke.
The pipe-like bodies of the Rafin Gabas area of the southernmost
Afu Complex were mined in the war years of the 1940s predominantly
for wolframite, although accessory cassiterite will also have been
produced (Kinnaird, 1985).
Upper Cretaceous to Palaeogene
Cameroon
Rifting along the lineament of the Cameroon Line led to a series
of Upper Cretaceous - Lower Paleogene-age alkaline intrusions
emplaced in Precambrian migmatitic biotite and quartz diorite-
gneisses. These alkaline complexes of granites, quartz-syenites, granite
porphyry and rhyolitic rocks share many similarities with the Nigerian
Younger Granites (Nguene, 1982).
Tin mineralisation has been known since the 1920s in the Eocene
Mayo Darlè alkaline complex in the northwest of the country. The
complex comprises rhyolitic volcanics, granite porphyry, quartz
syenite, riebeckite and biotite granites. Tin mineralisation occurs in a
stockwork of veinlets, 2.3 km2 in areal extent in biotite granite, with
an overall grade of 0.3% tin. There are several vertical and horizontal
greisen lode systems with quartz, zinnwaldite and topaz, that carry
grades of SnO2 varying from 2-20% and which occur near several
highly silicified breccia pipes that are barren of tin (Kinnaird and
Bowden, 1991). Cassiterite has been recovered in primary deposits
as well as eluvial deposits, where it occurs in conglomeratic beds
overlying the granite. These deposits yielded 6,500 tonnes of
cassiterite between 1933 and 1968, but then production progressively
declined and, by 1980, only small artisanal operators remained.
Tertiary to Recent
The elevated Jos Plateau in Nigeria, which rises 400 m above the
surrounding Pan-African basement plain, resulted from the buttressing
effect of the large Jurassic Jos-Bukuru and Ropp complexes. The
combination of elevation and significant annual rainfall, favoured
the weathering of the granite-hosted deposits and the Pleistocene
concentration of ores in broad shallow valleys, especially in the Ngell
River valley, 12 km southwest of Jos. Cassiterite-bearing gravel
pockets occur in both ancient and modern stream channels with grades
as high as 1.5 kg/m3, although usually closer to 10% of this (Kinnaird
and Bowden, 1981). Cassiterite may be accompanied by columbite,
with minor euxenite, fergusonite, ilmenite, ixiolite, microlite,
monazite, rutile, tapiolite, thorite, wolframite, xenotime and zircon
and rare magnetite and chromite (Kinnaird, 1985; Melcher et al.,
2015). Around ~95% of the Nigerian tin production has been
recovered from the Jos Plateau placers (Kinnaird, 1987). Alluvial
deposits were mined from 1913 to the present day. Production of
cassiterite was of the order of 10,000 tonnes annually for many years.
Between 1905 and 1971 about 630,000 tonnes of cassiterite was
exported with maximum production occurring in 1946 when 14,225
tonnes of concentrate containing 72-74% tin were produced (Kinnaird
Episodes Vol. 39, no. 2
367
and Bowden, 1991). Production declined in the 1970s to little over
3,800 tonnes in 1979 and by 1983 had fallen to ~1,700 tonnes. It is
suggested that high-grade cassiterite reserves occur beneath the
Quaternary to Recent basaltic lava flows that filled the Pleistocene
basins, especially under the Ngell basalts (Kinnaird, 1985). Other
sub-basaltic alluvial cassiterite deposits may occur in other states
(Bamalli et al., 2011). Exploration and production from these sites
might be stimulated if there is a significant increase in the price of
tin, as long as political and commercial issues are favourable.
In Cameroon, 6,500 tonnes of cassiterite was mined from alluvial
deposits between 1933 and 1968, but production progressively
declined and by 1980, was left to small artisanal operators (Kinnaird
and Bowden, 1991).
In Niger, small placer deposits have been worked on an artisanal
scale, producing ~100 tonnes of cassiterite annually but the
concentrate was sent to Nigeria for smelting (Kinnaird, 1987). It is
not known if production continues.
(ii) Tin in North East Africa
The Arabian-Nubian Shield is a juvenile crustal province of
Neoproterozoic age (e.g. Stern, 1994; Morag et al., 2011; Johnson et
al., 2011) that extends along the western and eastern shores of the
Red Sea. It is generally regarded as a collage of island-arc complexes
accreted during the closure of the Mozambique Ocean between east
and west Gondwana 870 to 740 Ma ago (Stern, 1994; Morag et al.,
2011), along a series of approximately east-west orientated sutures
that are now preserved in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, Sudan and in
western Saudi Arabia. Arc accretion was followed by a swarm of
basic dykes intruded ca. 705 Ma (Morag et al., 2011). Later, post-
collisional voluminous 680 to 600 Ma calc-alkaline granitoid
magmatism marked the transition from accretion to a mature
continental crust with subordinate 610 to 580 Ma intrusions of alkaline
affinity. Granite magmatism continued until 565 to 560 Ma and
orogeny ceased by 550 Ma (Morag et al., 2011).
Rare metal mineralisation, ranging in age from 610 Ma in the
north, to 530 Ma in the south, is generally associated with post-
accretion peraluminous and peralkaline granites, pegmatites and quartz
veins, in many localities on the African Nubian Shield such as at
Kenticha in Ethiopia, Majayahan, in Somaliland, Ummal Suquian in
Saudi Arabia and Abu Dabbab and Nuweibi, in Egypt. Cassiterite
deposits are generally widely separated and small in scale. Tantalum
production is likely to dominate mining production in these deposits
and tin mining is currently negligible (Küster, 2009; Sillitoe, 1979).
Neoproterozoic - Cambrian
Sudan
A wolframite-cassiterite-bearing stockwork has been described
from Abu Dom, associated with Cambrian granites of the Sabaloka
igneous complex, 88 km north of Khartoum (Almond, 1967). The
mineralised stockwork centres around a small 300 m long lens-shaped
mass of greisen, on the contact of a porphyritic microgranite ring
dyke. Individual veins are commonly less than 5 cm wide and quartz
rich with cassiterite, wolframite (which has oxidised at the surface to
a mix of iron and manganese oxides), goethite, limonite, jarosite,
powellite, galena, fluorite, molybdenite, scheelite, calcite and
malachite, in approximate order of abundance. The greisen lens
368
contains numerous miarolitic cavities lined with quartz and/or
cassiterite. The greisen and mineralising fluids are believed to have
originated from a nearby mass of biotite-muscovite granite (Almond,
1967).
Egypt
In the Eastern Desert of Egypt (Fig. 2), post-collisional alkaline
A-type granites that host Sn-Mo mineralisation in quartz veins, have
been dated as late Neoproterozoic (620 to 630 Ma, U-Pb SHRIMP
on zircon; Ali et al., 2012).
The Abu Dabbab deposit, 16 km inland from the western shore
of the Red Sea, hosts fine-grained disseminated Sn-Ta mineralisation,
within a highly evolved leucogranite stock that has been affected by
late stage albitisation and greisenisation and also in marginal
pegmatitic phases and external quartz veins and stockworks (El-
Sharkawy, 2001; Küster, 2009). The intrusion is elongate in an east-
west direction, with a maximum length of about 400 m. The maximum
width in a northeast-southwest direction is less than 200 m. The
deposit is characterised by fine-grained columbite, tantalite with lesser
tapiolite, ixiolite-wodginite, stibiotantalite, REE-rich microlite and
cassiterite that is commonly intergrown with columbite group minerals
and wodginite, zircon, monazite, xenotime (Yb), thorianite, REE
fluoro-carbonates and fluorite (Abdalla et al., 1998). Cassiterite has
been estimated to have a U-Pb age of 616 to 685 Ma (Melcher et al.,
2015). The total resource estimate is 44.5 million tonnes ore grading
250 g/t tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) and 0.09% tin (Gippsland Ltd,
2015). In 2013, 120 tonnes of tin was shipped from alluvial workings
but the focus shifted to the development of hard-rock mining with an
initial plan to produce tantalite with 260 tonnes of tin per year initially
and up to 960 tonnes per year of tin concentrate when fully operational,
together with substantial ceramic grade feldspar. In late 2015,
development plans had stalled, probably due to the current tin price.
At Nuweibi, in southeastern Egypt near the Red Sea coast, the
contact between granite and host rock schist is characterised by
stockwork veining and a quartz cap in a granite cupola that has
undergone late-stage albitisation and greisenisation (El-Sharkawy,
2001). The ore assemblage is similar to that from Abu Dabbab, with
columbite-tantalite and very minor cassiterite. Other post-collisional
A-type alkali granites in the Egyptian central Eastern Desert, the Humr
Akarim and Humrat Mukbid plutons, (630 to 620 Ma), are reported
to host Sn-Mo mineralised quartz veins, associated with albitised
portions of the granites (Ali et al., 2012).
Ethiopia
Tantalum-bearing pegmatites are mainly restricted to the Adola
Belt in the southern part of the country (Küster et al., 2009). The ca.
530 Ma Kenticha (Küster et al., 2009) zoned, spodumene-bearing
pegmatite, contains columbite-tantalite with amblygonite, beryl, rare
ixiolite, tapiolite, Ta-bearing rutile and also rare cassiterite (Melcher
et al., 2015).
Somaliland
Cassiterite has been mined in quartz veins and pegmatitic dykes
at Majayahan and Dalan in the north of the country (Küster, 2009;
Sillitoe, 1979). North northeast of Dalan, a swarm of 30 sub-parallel
quartz veins 50-130 m long and <7 m wide, cut metagabbros and
calcareous sandstone of the Inda Ad Series. A north-south set of veins
is barren, whereas 100 of ~250 veins that trend east-west carried
some cassiterite. Accessory minerals include apatite, rutile, braunite,
pyrolusite, tourmaline, pyrite, haematite and muscovite. Most of
the cassiterite came from relatively near surface, as irregular large
clusters, occasionally more than 4 kg in weight. Pitting of the veins
by geologists from the British Geological Survey in 1961 found no
continuation of the mineralisation with depth. These quartz veins are
probably synchronous with the Pan-African pegmatite sheets that have
greisenised zones rich in cassiterite, although these are of limited
extent. In 1956, ~90 kg of cassiterite was recovered, mostly as large
crystals. Tin and tantalum were mined from three deposits in the Dalan
area in the mid 1970s by Technoexport Bulgaria. The largest has
estimated resources of 2.8 Mt at a grade of 0.028% tin, the second
largest has estimated resources of 1.4 Mt at a grade of 0.129% tin,
0.015% tantalum, 0.132% rubidium and 0.011% caesium, and the
smallest has an estimated resource of only 13,000 tonnes. The
spodumene-bearing Majayahan deposit was estimated to have a
resource of 200,000 tonnes at a grade of 0.074% tin, 0.011% tantalum,
0.98% rubidium and 0.036% caesium (Chakrabati, 1988). Cassiterite
was formerly worked at Manja Yihin, near Bossasso. Numerous quartz
veins and pegmatite dykes in the Inda Ad inlier, are orientated either
north-northwest to south-southeast, or east-northeast to west-
southwest. Both systems show cassiterite mineralisation. No current
exploitation of cassiterite, or columbite-tantalite is underway. Several
cassiterite-bearing Pan-African pegmatites have estimated U-Pb ages
of ca. 530 Ma and Rb-Sr muscovite ages of 465 Ma, probably
indicating a resetting event (Küster, 1995).
Tertiary to Recent
Small scale eluvial or alluvial deposits have been worked in several
countries. In Egypt, placer deposits of cassiterite are localised near
biotite granites, or where streams cross tin-bearing greisens or
pegmatites. The deposits are mainly small but rich.
(iii) Tin in Central Africa
The Central African tin, niobium, tantalum, tungsten and gold
metallogenic province lies within the Mesoproterozoic Kibaran Belt
of Central Africa. The supracrustal Kibaran Belt evolved between
two domains: the Archaean-Palaeoproterozoic Congo craton to the
west and north, and the Archaean- and Palaeoproterozoic Tanzania
craton and Bangweulu Block, to the east and south (Dewaele et al.,
2010). It was regarded as a continuous, under 1,500 km long orogenic
belt, mostly of metasedimentary rocks, extending from southern
Uganda, through Rwanda and Burundi, into the DRC, although it
comprises two separate parts, the Karagwe-Ankole Belt (KAB) in
the northeast and the Kibaran Belt (KIB) to the southwest, both of
which host a large metallogenic province that contains numerous
granite-related tin (Sn)-tungsten (W)-tantalum (Ta) deposits (Tack
et al., 2010; Dewaele et al., 2011) (Fig. 5). Primary mineralisation
occurs in quartz veins, greisens and pegmatites and also as secondary
alluvial or eluvial deposits (Cahen et al., 1984).
Different generations of granites, termed G1-G4, were recognised
(Cahen et al., 1984) although recent dating indicates only two main
granite generations (Kokonyangi et al., 2006; Tack et al., 2010). In
the northern part of the orogen in Kivu, Rwanda and Burundi, the
main granite generation G1-3, intruded at 1380 ± 10 Ma (U-Pb
June 2016

SHRIMP zircon; Tack et al., 2010; Dewaele et al., 2011). These
granites are largely unmineralised. At 986 ± 10 Ma, the post-
compressional G4 Kibaran “tin granites” were emplaced (U-Pb
SHRIMP zircon; Tack et al., 2010; Dewaele et al., 2010; Melcher et
al., 2015). Their intrusion is attributed to a compressional intraplate
far-field effect related to the 1.0 Ga “global” collisional orogeny that
led to amalgamation of the supercontinent Rodinia, at the end of the
Mesoproterozoic Era (e.g. Tack et al., 2010). The tin granites are
sub-alkaline, strongly peraluminous equigranular biotite-muscovite
granites or muscovite alaskites with 5 wt% normative corundum (Pohl
and Gunther, 1990). Granite-related cassiterite-bearing pegmatites
occur in Rwanda, the DRC and Uganda.
Rwanda
The pegmatites of the Gatumba area, 50 km west of Kigali, are
typical of pegmatite mineralisation in the KAB. They have been mined
for columbite-tantalite and cassiterite, although they also contain beryl,
apatite, spodumene, amblygonite, and rare phosphates. According to
Dewaele et al. (2011), coltan (columbite-tantalite) formed during
pegmatite crystallisation whereas cassiterite was introduced during a
later metasomatic-hydrothermal overprint, associated with localised
intense sericite-muscovite alteration. U-Pb ages of columbite-tantalite
samples vary between 975 Ma and 930 Ma. The oldest ages (975 +
8.2/-8.3 Ma and 966 + 8.7/-8.6 Ma) overlap with previous reported
rubidium (Rb)-strontium (Sr) ages of the emplacement of the
pegmatites (965 Ma) and are interpreted to reflect the crystallisation
of the niobium (Nb)-tantalum (Ta) mineralisation (Dewaele et al.,
2011). The youngest ages (951 ± 15 Ma to 936 ± 14 Ma) are apparently
related to variable degrees of metasomatic overprinting. The 40Ar-
39
Ar (argon) spectra of muscovite show a spread of apparent ages
between 940 Ma and 560 Ma, that reflect Late Neoproterozoic
tectonothermal events (Dewaele et al., 2011). Only limited
exploitation of primary pegmatites has been attempted, due to the
costs of mechanical crushing and mineral concentration.
Cassiterite and wolframite mineralisation also occur in quartz
veins (Dewaele et al., 2011). In the tin mining district of Rutongo in
central Rwanda, 10 km north of Kigali, hundreds of cassiterite-bearing
quartz veins occur on the eastern limb of a large anticlinorium that
was intruded by a G4 granite (Pohl and Gunther, 1990; Dewaele et
al., 2010). The medium-grained granite is sericitised and strongly
kaolinised. The veins intrude thick sandstones and quartzites
interbedded with minor pelites, late in the deformation history
(Dewaele et al., 2010). Silicic country rocks are hydrothermally
silicified and/or tourmalinised, whereas the metapelites are sericitised,
kaolinised, and bleached with a wide halo of tourmalinisation along
bedding and schistosity planes (Pohl and Gunther, 1990; Dewaele
et al., 2010). Single veins range in size from several cm to more than
10 m, with an average thickness of 1 m and the mineralisation is
known to extend to ~350 m depth (Pohl and Gunther, 1990). Early
white quartz is commonly brecciated and cemented by grey quartz
which appears to carry more sulphides (Pohl and Gunther, 1990).
Late joints in the veins are coated by hematite and goethite. Cassiterite,
which is associated with muscovite in fractures in and along the
margins of the quartz veins, was followed by the formation of
sulphides (arsenopyrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena) accompanied
by rutile, tourmaline and rare kaolinised feldspars and native gold,
the latter only known from the tin placers (Pohl and Gunther, 1990;
Dewaele et al., 2010). Based on the low tin content of the granite,
Episodes Vol. 39, no. 2
369
Dewaele et al. (2002), infer that tin was mobilised from granite fluids
into pegmatites and veins at 869 ± 7 Ma, by syn- to post-deformational
high-temperature metamorphic, moderate-salinity H2O-CO2-(CH4-
N2)-NaCl fluids.
Exploration for and exploitation of cassiterite started in the 1930s.
During the early decades, production mainly came from eluvial and
alluvial workings, but mining progressively went underground on
the quartz veins. According to Dewaele et al. (2010), cumulative
production from different deposits in the Rutongo area was ~30,000
tonnes of cassiterite between 1931 and 1982, with an average annual
export between 2009 and 2013 of 4,955 tonnes, whilst Melcher et al.
(2014), suggest that between 1958 and 2005, about 60,000 tonnes of
cassiterite and 5,000 tonnes of coltan were produced. Recent annual
exports (2013), included 749 tonnes of coltan concentrate and ca.
4,000 tonnes of cassiterite concentrate (BGS World Mineral
Production, 2015), although these figures may include material
imported from the DRC. The government has been working to
reform the sector in order to ensure that mining is able to boost
economic growth. Many mining licences that had previously been
state-controlled, have been granted to national and international
companies, mostly with artisanal operations. Currently, the
possibilities for semi-industrial mining are being evaluated again, as
alluvial deposits have been worked out but - mainly primary -
resources are estimated at ~6,700 tonnes of indicated resource,
~10,700 tonnes of probable resource and ~6,900 tonnes of possible
resource (unpublished data Société Minière du Rwanda [SOMIRWA]
quoted in Dewaele et al., 2010).
DRC
The Kibaran orogenic belt extends through the east side of the
DRC from North Kivu, through south Kivu, and Maniema, to Katanga
in the south. Throughout the region cassiterite is hosted in pegmatites,
greisens and quartz veins (Fig. 5).
In northern Kivu, east-west-trending swarms of Ta-Nb-Sn-W-
bearing pegmatitic veins associated with G4 granites, cut
Palaeoproterozoic metasedimentary and magmatic rocks (Cahen et
al., 1984). Coltan mineralisation is hosted by zoned or unzoned
pegmatites of variable size, whereas cassiterite and wolframite are
more abundant in greisenised zones and hydrothermal quartz veins
(Dewaele et al., 2010, 2011).
The Bisie tin project, owned by the Toronto-listed Alphamin, in
the Walikale District of northern Kivu, approximately 180 km
northwest of Goma, was initially discovered by artisanal miners in
the early 2000s and exploration by Alphamin commenced in 2012.
Mineralisation occurs as a stockwork of north-south trending
polymetallic cassiterite-bearing veins, 1-3 km east of the contact
between a medium-grained pink porphyritic granite to the west and
micaceous schists, quartzites, phyllites and amphibolites, with minor
calcareous rocks to the east (Witley & Leighton, 2015). Veins vary in
thickness from 2 mm to 0.8 m being composed of massive, pinkish
brown, fine-grained and often botryoidal cassiterite, and show
compositional layering. Early cassiterite was followed by later
chalcopyrite and bornite and then by galena and sphalerite
mineralisation (Witley & Leighton, 2015). Country rocks, especially
the amphibolites, have undergone intense chloritisation. Weathered
veins at surface are composed of cassiterite, smectite clays, hematite
and earthy limonite (Witley & Leighton, 2015). Bisie is unusual as it
hosts minor, <0.5% rare earth elements and very high grade tin, with
370

some sample assays reaching 60% SnO2. It represents a small high- An enrichment in Nb-Ta and Li occurred during early albitisation of
grade deposit, with inferred and indicated resources of 1.2 Mt @ the pegmatites whilst cassiterite with columbite, thoreaulite (SnTa2O6)
3.6% Sn and 2.65 Mt @ 4.49% Sn respectively (Witley & Leighton, and spodumene, were enriched during later greisenisation. Dating of
2015). unaltered pegmatites and Nb-Ta mineralised pegmatites range from
In the Maniema province, the Kalima area is important for 940 ± 5.1 Ma to 934.0 ± 5.9 Ma, whereas mineralised greisens were
cassiterite production, even after many decades of exploitation dated at 923.3 ± 8.3 Ma (Dewaele et al., 2016). The Manono pegmatite
(Dewaele et al., 2015). Mineralisation occurs in quartz veins along produced 140,000 tonnes of cassiterite concentrate from about 1915
the foliation in Mesoproterozoic metasediments at the contact with to ~1980s and has cassiterite reserves of ~200,000 tonnes (Dewaele
the Kalima granite (Avuanga and Yubuli deposits), or within the granite et al., 2016).
(Atondo deposit). Wallrocks to the quartz veins have been sericitised,
tourmalinised and silicified. Uganda
In the Atondo open pit mine, mineralised quartz veins are hosted
by two-mica granites with cassiterite and muscovite at the contact Southwestern Uganda is a prospective tin belt with a historic
between the quartz veins and the host rocks, and also in fractures in production from small scale hard rock and alluvial mines between
the veins. A sub-vertical vein orientated 0-25°E consists primarily of 1927 and 2001 of ~13,000 tonnes of tin concentrate. The tinfield,
quartz and muscovite, with minor fluorite (Dewaele et al., 2015). which extends south and west into Rwanda, the DRC and northern
The width of these veins can vary from a few cm up to 2.5 m, with Tanzania, has had little systematic exploration since the 1950s. The
strike lengths of several hundreds of meters. The veins carry cassiterite, Kikagati tin prospect, which is under evaluation, covers an area of 96
topaz, stannite, varlamoffite and minor wolframite (Dewaele et al., km2. It is characterised by quartz-mica-cassiterite veins extending
2015). A second vein set orientated 120-140°E, dips 60-90° to the for 2.5 km in metamorphosed shales and sandstones of the Karagwe-
north. These quartz veins can be up to 1 m thick, several tens of Ankolean System and is linked to granite plutons (Kasbah Resources,
metres long, with minor muscovite and feldspar. A third vein set 2014).
orientated 150-160°E and with a dip of 60-90° to the north, is less
common and is unmineralised (Dewaele et al., 2015). Muscovite Tertiary to Recent alluvial and eluvial
associated with cassiterite has been dated at 986 ± 5.3 Ma (Dewaele
et al., 2015).
concentrations
The Avuanga deposit consists of a series of granite or pegmatite Rwanda
lenses intruded along the bedding of 30-45 m thick quartzites and
schists which have been sericitised and tourmalinised along the Alluvial and eluvial deposits have been mined since the early
contacts (Dewaele et al., 2015). Coltan occurs in greisenised contacts 1930s, when Belgian companies promoted the mining activity.
between the granite and the low-grade metamorphic rocks, whereas Between 1929 and 1985, the Gatumba area produced 17,600 tonnes
cassiterite is mainly related to quartz veins and lenses at the margins of mixed cassiterite and coltan concentrate, mainly from eluvial and
of, or in fractures within, the veins. The quartz veins are more intensely alluvial deposits and from deeply weathered pegmatites (Dewaele et
developed in the quartzites, but the richest grade lenses occur in al., 2011). In the 1970s, state-controlled companies took over and
phyllites and at the contact between the quartzites and phyllites.
A later sulphide mineralisation includes molybdenite,
arsenopyrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, fluorite
and carbonates (Dewaele et al., 2015).
In the Yubuli deposit, at the contact between a two-mica
granite and metasedimentary host-rocks, north-south orientated
cassiterite-bearing quartz veins parallel the country-rock
foliation. Cassiterite is associated with muscovite in greisens
at the contact between the quartz veins and the host-rock, or
associated with muscovite in fractures in these quartz veins.
The mineralisation dominantly consists of cassiterite, with
some traces of wolframite and topaz. Eluvial concentrates also
carry coltan, beryl and monazite (Dewaele et al., 2015).
Muscovite associated with cassiterite has been dated at 992.4
± 5.4 Ma (Dewaele et al., 2015).
In the Katanga province, the largest pegmatite deposit, the
Manono-Kitotolo (KIB, Fig. 5), is one of the world’s largest
Sn, Nb-Ta and lithium (Li) mineralised pegmatites, with a large
resource of spodumene, columbite-tantalite and cassiterite still
remaining. It is about 10 km long, up to 400 m wide, and was
intruded along the foliation in the Mesoproterozoic
metasedimentary rocks and dolerites, probably during the
transition from orogenic collapse to extensional tectonics
(Dewaele et al., 2016). The dolerite and metasedimentary rocks Fig. 5. Regional tectonic setting of the Karagwe-Ankole Belt (KAB) and the
have been intensely sericitised, tourmalinised and silicified. Kibaran belt (KIB) (Dewaele et al., 2011).

June 2016

only since 2007, have mining licences been granted to private national/
international companies. Currently, there is mainly an artisanal
production, but the reserves have been estimated at 950 tonnes, with
further resources between 2,400 and 3,400 tonnes of cassiterite
(Dewaele et al., 2011).
DRC
The Congo tin fields were not discovered until 1932, when Sn-
Ta occurrences began being mined in the Kivu and Maniema Provinces
(Polderman et al., 1985). In the Kalima area of Maniema Province,
weathering to depths of more than 50 m, resulted in eluvial deposits
that have been exploited by hydraulic mining. Only 5% of the Ta and
Sn resources are hosted in primary pegmatites and cassiterite-bearing
quartz veins, with 10% hosted in eluvial and 85% in alluvial deposits.
Concentrates usually contain 92% cassiterite and 6-7% coltan (with
30 wt% Ta2O5). In the mid-1940s, the DRC (then Zaire) was one of
the world’s largest producers of cassiterite, but thereafter, production
steadily declined due to weak prices and expensive transport costs
from remote mines. Production was estimated at 1,943 tonnes in 1988,
dropping to 1,642 tonnes in 1989, and 1,600 tonnes in 1990. By the
end of 1994, Dewaele et al., (2015) reported a total production of the
Kivu-Maniema region of 390,000 tonnes of cassiterite, 10,000 tonnes
of wolframite, 7,700 tonnes of columbite-tantalite, 2,300 tonnes of
monazite and 6,000 tonnes of beryl. In the mid 1990s, mining activity
was considerably reduced, due to instability and political/religious
clashes which, after the mid 1990s, left control of the mining areas to
Fig. 6. Location map of tin, tungsten and tantalum occurrences in
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.
Episodes Vol. 39, no. 2
371
armed groups. Nevertheless, in 2007-2008 the cassiterite export from
the DRC was estimated at 18,000-25,000 tonnes (Garrett and Mitchell,
2009). After the government ban on all mineral export that was
imposed in 2010 was lifted in 2012, strong political support and social
development programmes put the country in a favourable position to
become the major African tin producer that it is today.
(iv) Tin in Southern Africa
Cassiterite mineralisation in southern Africa ranges in age from
Archaean to Pleistocene and in deposit size from important primary
granite and pegmatite-hosted deposits, to small-scale eluvial and
alluvial deposits close to primary cassiterite occurrences. The majority
of South African tin deposits occur in pipes and veins associated
with the granites of the Bushveld Complex, especially in the Waterberg
District of the Limpopo Province of South Africa (northern Bushveld
limb) (Fig. 7). Less productive are the occurrences in 500 Ma Cape
Granite, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa (Hunter, 1973),
or the cassiterite-wolframite bearing veins of the Orange River.
Archaean
Zimbabwe
On the Zimbabwe Craton (Fig. 2), cassiterite has been mined in
Ta-rich pegmatites at the Bikita Mine in the Masvingo Greenstone
Belt. These pegmatites host significant lithium in petalite, lepidolite,
spodumene, eucryptite and amblygonite, as well as caesium in
pollucite. They are accompanied by tantalite, tapiolite, wodginite,
simpsonite, microlite, euxenite, fergusonite and cassiterite (Martin,
1964; von Knorring and Fadipe, 1981). The Sn-Ta ore occurs in
marginal pockets of quartz-rich zones in large masses of lepidolite
greisen. From 1916 to 1950, 160 tonnes of columbite-tantalite
concentrate were produced and 188 tonnes of cassiterite concentrate
were produced from 1916-1959 (Bartholomew, 1990). Archaean ages
for Bikita of 2617 ± 1 Ma were obtained by Melcher et al. (2015).
These ages are in agreement with a previous age estimate of 2650 ±
50 Ma obtained by Rb-Sr dating of lepidolite (Herzog et al., 1960).
Recently, artisanal local activities have developed in the northeast
of the country, where tin is mined at Benson Mine, Sutswe, Rusambo
and Shamva (Melcher et al., 2015 and references therein). The Benson
3 and 4 pegmatites carry tantalite, wodginite, stibiotantalite,
simpsonite microlite, cassiterite and scheelite (von Knorring and
Fadipe, 1981; von Knorring and Hornung, 1963). According to
Bartholomew (1990), 23.16 tonnes of cassiterite concentrate were
produced intermittently over the period 1954-1984. At Sutswe,
wodginite has been replaced by microlite, with inclusions of cassiterite
and zircon (Melcher et al., 2015). These pegmatites have been dated
at 2587 ± 4 Ma (Melcher et al., 2015).
South Africa
On the Kaapvaal Craton of South Africa, only two occurrences
of tin are recorded in Archaean granite. One is on the Swaziland
border (du Toit and Pringle, 1998), the other is near Palakop in the
Klein Letaba area of the Giyani Greenstone belt, where mica-rich
pegmatites host minor cassiterite and columbite. Poujol and Robb
(1999) suggested a minimum age of 2.85 Ga for pegmatites to the
south of the Murchison Belt (U-Pb dating of zircon).
372
Fig. 7. Geological map of the Bushveld Complex with the major areas of tin occurrences (Figure provided by Luke Longridge of Bushveld
Minerals, modified after Schweitzer et al., 1995).
Swaziland
An Archaean aged tin-bearing pegmatite belt in the west of
Swaziland, extends southeast from Makwane beacon, on the South
African border, to the Sinceni area in central Swaziland (Maphalala
and Trumbull, 1998). In the northwest, pegmatites of the Makwane,
Tokwane, Lupholo, and Mantenga areas, are located in or near the
contact between the Mpuluzi batholith and the Ancient Gneiss
Complex. The tin-bearing pegmatites of Sidvokodvo and Sinceni in
central Swaziland, are hosted in gneisses near contacts with post-
kinematic granite plutons of the Hlatikulu and Sinceni plutons,
respectively (Maphalala and Trumbull, 1998). Both mineralised and
barren pegmatites occur irregularly along the belt. The tin-bearing
pegmatite dykes are comparatively large, vary from several metres in
size to >100 m, are typically zoned with a quartz-rich or sometimes
an aplitic core, and structures which are discordant to the host-rock,
whereas barren dykes tend to be less than 1 m wide, unzoned, and
concordant (Maphalala and Trumbull, 1998). The tin-bearing
pegmatites are composed of quartz and microcline, sometimes in
graphic intergrowths, ± albite, accompanied by cassiterite, muscovite,
± tourmaline, ± biotite, ± magnetite, garnet and rare Nb-Ta oxides
(Maphalala and Trumbull, 1998).
The deposits have been worked sporadically since the 1890s and
yielded ~11,000 tonnes of tin metal (Davies, 1964). Most of the
deposits occur in the vicinity of Mbabane and the Ezulwini valley in
northwest Swaziland, where cassiterite was first discovered. A
second concentration of deposits is found in the Sinceni area of
south-central Swaziland and a smaller occurrence (Sidvokodvo)
occurs between the others. Economic appraisal of alluvial tin in the
Ezulwini Valley and the Sinceni area in the late 1970s proved
considerable reserves (Gold, 1977) but there are no mining activities
at present.
A large number of granitic plutons intruded Swaziland between
3.1 and 2.6 Ga, and it is suggested that the pegmatite dykes are related
to this granitic magmatism, although only at one locality is it possible
to demonstrate a parental relationship of the exposed granites to the
tin-bearing pegmatite dykes (Maphalala and Trumbull, 1998).
Palaeoproterozoic
South Africa
The stratiform Palaeoproterozoic granites of the 2050 Ma Lebowa
Suite form part of the ca. 65,000 km2 Bushveld Complex. The complex
includes volcanic rocks of the Rooiberg Group at the base, followed
by the layered mafic intrusion of the Rustenburg Layered Suite,
overlain by the felsic successions of the Lebowa Granite and Rashoop
Granophyre suites (Cawthorn et al., 2006). Cassiterite has been mined
from the Lebowa granites in the past in six main areas, the most
productive ores being at, or close to the contact with the meta-
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sedimentary rocks of the Transvaal Supergroup, (Groves and
McCarthy, 1978) (Fig. 7).
Numerous magmatic-hydrothermal polymetallic ore deposits
define a three-stage paragenetic sequence (Robb et al., 2000). Early
magmatic Sn-W-Mo-F ores (600- 400°C), typified by the endogranitic
Zaaiplaats tin deposit, were related to incompatible trace element
concentrations during crystal fractionation and subsequent fluid
saturation of the magma. Fluid circulation was mainly via grain
boundaries, microfractures, cavities and dissolution channelways
(Pollard et al., 1991a and b). This stage was followed by an
intermediate Cu-Pb-Zn-As-Ag-Au paragenesis (400-200°C), when
late magmatic fluids were channelled along fractures and mingled
with externally derived connate or meteoric fluids. This stage is
typified by the fracture-related, Sn-Cu-Pb-Zn-Ag-Au mineralisation
at the endogranitic Spoedwel and Albert deposits (Bailie & Robb,
2004), as well as the exogranitic, sediment-hosted Rooiberg mine,
which is dominated by polymetallic sulphide ores (Rozendaal et al.,
1995). The final stage was the formation of iron (Fe)-fluorine (F)-
uranium (U) mineralisation (< 200°C), dominantly in veins
exemplified by the Albert Silver Mine (Bailie & Robb, 2004).
At Zaaiplaats, 25 km northwest of Mokopane (formerly
Potgeitersrus), coarse-grained red Bobbejaankop Granite
predominates, with finer-grained aplitic Lease Granite ocurring
immediately beneath the Rashoop Granophyre (Fig. 8). The Lease
Granite is separated from the Rashoop Granophyre by fluorite-bearing
pegmatites (Kinnaird et al., 2004). Both the Lease and Bobbejaankop
alkali feldspar granites host tin-tungsten mineralisation. Ore occurs
in sub horizontal, tabular, low- grade bodies in the Lease Granite, a
lower zone of disseminated cassiterite mineralisation in the
Bobbejaankop Granite approximately 50 m below the Lease Granite
and a series of richly-mineralised, shallowly plunging and branching
pipes and veins in both granites (Fig. 8), that show a close spatial
relationship to zones affected by strong greisenisation/silicification,
that are unrelated to fracture systems (Strauss, 1954). In the dark,
irregularly-shaped tourmaline-rich pipes, tourmaline often occurs as
radiating acicular crystals replacing microclinised feldspar, with
interstitial relict quartz. Cassiterite is abundant, especially in the
micaceous rich core to a pipe accompanied by zinnwaldite, fluorite,
Fig. 8. Schematic east-west section of the Zaaiplaats mine showing distribution of rock types and mineralisation styles (Pollard et al.,
1991a).
Episodes Vol. 39, no. 2
373
calcite, pyrite, arsenopyrite, molybdenite, chalcopyrite, scheelite,
wolframite and galena. Bleached haloes with quartz ± albite
surrounding the pipes are common in the Lease granite, or with rims
of pink microcline, plus chlorite in the Bobbejaankop granite. Many
small pipes ranging in size from a few cm across to 1 m in size
remain, but the larger pipes, which were roughly elliptical, and up to
12 m across, have been mined out. According to Crocker (1986),
the amount of cassiterite in the pipes and lenses could be as much
as 30-70%.
Minor sub-vertical veins with fluorite, calcite, quartz, and
sulphides, cross-cut the granites and pipes (Pollard et al., 1991a).
The abundant miarolitic cavities in both granites typically are <5 mm
in size but in the disseminated cassiterite-bearing zone of the
Bobbejaankop Granite, large cavities up to 1 m in size have developed.
Miarolitic cavities range from more than 10 vol% in the upper Lease
Granite, to less than 1 vol% in the lower part of the Bobbejaankop
Granite (Pollard et al., 1991b). They are filled or partially filled by
hydrothermal quartz, albite, fluorite, chlorite, sericite, hematite or
calcite with cassiterite, scheelite, synchisite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite
and galena. In both the Lease and Bobbejaankop facies, interstitial
fluorite occurs in pegmatitic pods and miarolitic cavities with large
quartz crystals and more rarely, euhedral calcite (Kinnaird et al., 2004).
The Zaaiplaats tin field produced 37,079 tonnes of metallic tin between
1909 and 1985 and was the second largest tin producing area in South
Africa after the Rooiberg tin field (Falcon, 1985).
To the north of Zaaiplaats, on Groenvley and Appingendam,
Crocker et al. (2001), reported well-developed lodes, pockets, pipes
and fissures with cassiterite, arsenopyrite, pyrite, molybdenite, fluorite,
bastnaesite and other rare-earth minerals.
At Rooiberg, three mines, all now closed, produced cassiterite
from veins in metasediments or felsic volcanics at the contact with
the upper Bushveld granitoids. Cassiterite was mainly in fracture-
controlled veins and pockets, and occasionally in low-angle bedding
planes, associated with quartz, tourmaline, ankerite, chlorite,
microcline, scheelite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and
bismuthinite. The pockets are typically characterised by a core of
cassiterite, pyrite, ankerite and quartz, with a rim of tourmaline
surrounded by a whitish, pink or red alteration halo in the arkosites
374
(Labuschagne, 2003). Wallrocks to veins have been sericitised and
tourmalinised. Replacement occurrences in breccias and mineralised
pegmatites have been described at Leuuwport (Labuschagne, 2004).
Tin was mined in the Rooiberg area at least 500 years ago (see above),
but in the modern era workings date from 1905 to 1993. Rooiberg
was historically the largest producer of tin ore in South Africa and
had a total production of 83,000 tonnes of tin metal from first
production until 1992 (Labuschagne, 2004).
At Union Mine, west of Mookgophong (formerly Naboomspruit)
(Fig. 7), cassiterite-bearing stockworks developed in shales at the
contact with the overlying felsites (Du Toit and Pringle, 1998; Falcon,
1985). In the Elands area, cassiterite occurs disseminated, in
pegmatites and in pipe-like ore bodies, in granites and rhyolites (Fig.
7) but is not of economic importance (Du Toit and Pringle, 1998). In
the Mutue Fides area (Fig. 7), mineralisation is similar to that at
Zaaiplaats. Cassiterite is associated with irregular pegmatitic pods,
greisenised patches and pipes, close to the contact between a reddened
coarse-grained and a medium-grained biotite granite. Grade is
sporadic, although considerable quantities of tin were reported to
have been produced here (du Toit and Pringle, 1998). In the Moloto
area (Fig. 7), cassiterite was discovered in 1905, in mineralised fissures
in the granite roof rocks of the Bushveld Complex and also in the
overlying granophyre and felsite. Cassiterite also occurs in zones of
brecciated red granite together with fluorite, pyrite, chalcopyrite and
tourmaline (du Toit and Pringle, 1998).
Meso - Neoproterozoic
Zimbabwe
Important mineralisation is found in poorly zoned Neoproterozoic
Sn-Ta-W pegmatites that intruded the paragneiss of the Kamativi
Schist Belt (part of the Palaeoproterozoic Magondi Belt) (Fig. 2). At
Kamativi Mine, large, gently-dipping complex and unzoned cassiterite
pegmatites intruded into the crest of an anticline (Rijks and van der
Veen, 1972). The width of the lodes is as much as 30 m near the crest
of the anticline and in the east, the pegmatite has been mined along a
strike length of 800 m to a depth of 270 m (Rijks and van der Veen,
1972). Cassiterite and Ta-Nb mineralisation with traces of tapiolite,
wodginite, monazite, zircon and tourmaline, occur in micaceous
selvages to the pegmatites. The pegmatites yielded a Pb-Pb age by
thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) of 1031 ± 8 Ma
(Melcher et al., 2015). The Kalinda and Kamativi mines were in
intermittent production from 1937 until 1994, annually producing
1,200 tonnes of cassiterite and 60 tonnes of tantalum concentrates
over their production period.
South Africa
In the Orange River area, a large pegmatite belt extends from the
northwestern Cape Province of South Africa into southern Namibia.
The province hosts over 12,000 known pegmatites, some of which
are rare-element bearing (Hugo, 1969; Minnaar, 2006), but lack
cassiterite. Instead, cassiterite occurs with wolframite, in a series of
parallel quartz veins in medium to high-grade quartzofeldspathic
gneisses (du Toit and Pringle, 1988). At Van Rooi’s Vley, 45 km west
of Uppington, exploration in 1981 indicated a reserve of 2.5 Mt of
mixed ore grading 0.38% WO3 and 0.4% Sn (du Toit and Pringle,
1988). The veins are composed of quartz, fluorite, scheelite and
cassiterite, with minor molybdenite, magnetite, biotite, garnet,
haematite, ilmenite and chalcopyrite, surrounded by a pervasive
alteration zone of tourmaline-chlorite-sericite (du Toit and Pringle,
1988).
Neoproterozoic-Cambrian
Namibia
The Neoproterozoic Pan-African Damara Belt formed during the
extension and collision between the Congo and Kalahari Cratons
(Miller, 2008; Lehmann et al., 2016). Cassiterite is commonly
associated with late- to post-tectonic pegmatitic belts, and only minor
ore occurs in vein and/or replacement deposits related to Late-
Precambrian calc-alkaline granites.
Three main sub-parallel northeast-trending belts are present, with
distinctive pegmatitic swarms that are characterised by Li, Be, Sn
and Nb-Ta mineralisation (Diehl, 1992a, b and c; Kinnaird et al.,
2014; Ashworth, 2014) (Fig. 9). The most notable of these is the
northeast trending Uis belt, which is 124 km long and 14 km wide
and extends from Cape Cross to the town of Uis. There are several
clusters of pegmatites, the Strathmore area, 30 km east of Cape Cross,
the Karlowa swarm, 30 km south of the Brandberg Complex, and the
Uis swarm (Fig. 9). The belt is thought to represent a half graben,
bounded to the southeast by the Autseib Fault, which formed in a
tensional environment and may have been active since Proterozoic
times (Richards, 1986; Wagener, 1989; Diehl, 1992a).
The Brandberg West-Goantagab tin belt, north of the Brandberg
Complex, trends north-south and is about 60 km long and ~25 km
wide. Cassiterite occurs in both Pan-African rare metal pegmatites
and in vein-type/replacement-type stockworks. At Brandberg West,
tin mineralisation occurs in hydrothermal sheeted quartz and greisen
veins hosted by poly-deformed greenschist facies turbidites and
carbonates over an area of 900 m by 300 m (Macey and Harris, 2006).
Three main generations of quartz veins were recognised (Townshend,
1985), with the earliest being barren, the second typical mineralised
greisen veins with mica selvages and the youngest set characterised
by carbonate- and haematite-bearing veins. Pirajno et al. (1987)
expanded the vein classification and recognised 5 vein sets. Fluid
inclusion and stable isotope work by Macey and Harris (2006)
identified ore-forming fluids that were carbon dioxide-bearing, of
moderate salinity (8.6 wt% NaCl eq) and temperatures of 392-
447 °C. Veins have been dated by Rb-Sr at 509 ± 11 Ma (Walraven,
1989; Jacob and Kruger, 1994). The Brandberg West Mine was the
largest deposit exploited in the belt, which was mined from 1946
until closure in 1980. Opencast production of ore between 1945 and
1980 produced 14,374 tonnes of concentrate grading 32-56% tin oxide
and 14.5-19% tungsten oxide (Diehl, 1993). Other mined vein
systems in the area include Goantagab and Gamigab.
The Uis belt comprises ~120 pegmatite bodies striking northeast,
and dipping between 30° and 70° to the northwest, preferentially
hosted in the biotite-schists parallel to the axes of major folds.
Individual bodies up to 1 km long and 50 m wide, are largely unzoned
and carry columbite-tantalite, ixiolite, tapiolite, wodginite and various
phosphate minerals, in addition to cassiterite. The ore is low-grade
and disseminated, and the emplacement is controlled by the orientation
of en-echelon ‘tension gashes’ (Diehl, 1990). Richards (1986),
described the close association of cassiterite with greisenised areas
affected by albite and muscovite alteration. The pegmatites are large,
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Fig. 9. The four Sn-bearing belts of central Namibia (after Diehl, 1992c).
pervasively albitised bodies, which do not display any conspicuous
zoning, although their contacts with the country rock are marked by
a highly micaceous margin in which mica growth is perpendicular to
the contact. They are typically coarse-grained, and are dominated by
quartz, albite, muscovite and/or sericite (Richards, 1986; Diehl, 1992a;
1993; Ashworth, 2014). Accessory phases are abundant and include
cassiterite, columbite-tantalite, zircon, and Li-minerals such as
amblygonite, lepidolite, and petalite, which occur in saccharoidal
albite-rich replacement zones, plus rare accessory spodumene,
monazite, topaz, garnet, tourmaline, apatite, beryl, pyrite, galena,
malachite, azurite, and calcite (Richards, 1986; Diehl, 1992a; Keller
et al., 1999). Cassiterite grains, typically between 0.2 mm and 2 mm
in size, are anhedral to subhedral and contain inclusions of muscovite
and albite (Ashworth, 2014). Early high temperature fluids were
aqueo-carbonic, with a bulk density of 0.5 - 0.8 g/cc, saline with >23
wt% NaCl, 20-30 % CO2 with traces of CH4, CO and N2 (Ashworth,
2014).
The Uis pegmatites were discovered in 1911, and were mined on
a small scale for 40 years (Fig. 10a). Large-scale mining began in
1951 and in the following two decades it became the largest low-
grade, hard-rock tin-bearing pegmatite mine in the world (Richards,
1986; Diehl, 1992a), with production rates reaching 140,000 kg tin
concentrate (67.5% metallic tin) per month, from 85,000 tonnes of
ore in 1989 (Diehl, 1992a). Niobium and tantalum oxides were
important by-products, although their recovery proved difficult when
intergrown with cassiterite (Diehl, 1992b). Overall, 35,000 tonnes of
cassiterite concentrate was produced from 1924 to 1990 at a grade of
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375
1.25 kg/t (Diehl, 1992c) but due to the low tin price, and the low
grade of the deposit, production ceased in 1990 (Diehl, 1992c). The
main pit of the Uis Mine is now flooded, although two of the eight
main pegmatites mined can still be accessed. Pegmatite emplacement
has been dated between 486 and 503 Ma (Haack and Gohn, 1988;
Diehl, 1993), although more recently a columbite crystal from
Rubikon, just south of Karibib, yielded a U-Pb (TIMS) age of ca.
505 Ma (Melcher et al., 2014), which may constrain pegmatite
emplacement more accurately.
The Nainais-Kohero pegmatite (Fig. 9) belt is host to cassiterite-
tantalite bearing rare metal pegmatites scattered along the northern
margin of the Omaruru River. The mines are now abandoned and are
mostly mined out. The main Nainais mine consisted of 3 main
workings following the length of three sub-parallel northeast-
southwest orientated pegmatites, dipping steeply towards the
northwest. Pegmatites are up to 15 m in width and extend several km
in length, are mostly massive and unzoned, with cassiterite-tantalite
confined to yellow, mica-rich greisen areas (Fuchsloch, pers. comm.).
The pegmatites are quite fine-grained and quartz deficient with the
two southerly pegmatites rich in green, black and pink tourmaline
and apatite.
In the Southern Belt, numerous small-scale artisanal workings
for cassiterite, from tourmaline-bearing pegmatite swarms within the
belt to the southwest of the Erongo Mountains, but no production
figures are available. On the southern flank of the zoned pegmatites
around Usakos and Karibib have a long history of mining for lithium
and tantalum minerals. They are characterised by an accessory
376
(a)
Fig. 10. An unzoned Uis pegmatite (a) intruding into the “knotted” schists of the Khomas Group, exposed in a subsidiary pit at the
abandoned Uis Tin Mine. (b) Anhedral and zoned cassiterite (Cas) grains overprinting a groundmass of albite (Ab), quartz (Qz), muscovite
(Ms) and lepidolite (Lpd). Cassiterite grains are typically 0.2-2 mm in size. (Ashworth, 2014).
assemblage of amblygonite-montebrasite, lepidolite, petalite,
pollucite, beryl, Nb-Ta minerals, bismuth, feldspar, mica, quartz and
gemstones, with minor Nb-Ta minerals at Helikon and Rubikon,
south of Karibib.
Madagascar
Madagascar lies on the southern extension of the Neoproterozoic
Mozambique Belt east of Africa (von Knorring, 1970). Late in the
development of the belt, a major suite of syntectonic (750-600 Ma),
and post-tectonic pegmatites were intruded (~565 Ma - 492 Ma).
These host U-REE-Ta-Nb oxides (von Knorring and Condliffe, 1987),
in addition to the famed beryls, tourmalines, sapphire and ruby. Tin
is a very rare element in the pegmatites of Madagascar, and Behier
(1960) records only one pegmatite with cassiterite. Only traces of
alluvial cassiterite have been observed from various parts of the island.
Some tin is, however, present in the columbite-tantalites and especially
in the scandian ixiolites (von Knorring, 1970).
Mozambique
The Alto Ligonha Province of northern Mozambique is an
important rare-metal pegmatite province, which is well known for its
gemstones, industrial minerals and rare metals (REE, Be, Nb-Ta, Li,
U-Th). Twelve pegmatite fields with 46 pegmatite groups and more
than 100 single pegmatite occurrences are known (Cronwright, 2005).
These pegmatites range in age from 490 Ma to 453 ± 17 Ma
(Cronwright, 2005). In spite of the number and diversity of the
pegmatites in the Province, cassiterite is rare. Small amounts of alluvial
cassiterite have been recovered in the Muiane area and the various
niobium-tantalum minerals are generally tin-bearing, especially the
scandian ixiolite, niobian wolframite, struverite and tapiolite (Von
Knorring, 1970).
Mesozoic
Namibia
In the central Damara Orogen, the Mesozoic anorogenic ring
(b)
complexes of Klein Spitzkoppe, Brandberg and Erongo, host
cassiterite mineralisation. At Klein Spitzkoppe, cassiterite is associated
with hypogene sulphide mineralisation in vuggy silicified zones in
granite (Diehl, 1992c). In the Erongo granitic complex, cassiterite
and wolframite occur in tourmalinised portions of the granite, or are
associated with localised volcanic breccia pipes (Diehl, 1993). In the
southwestern part of the Brandberg ring complex, high tin and zinc
concentrations are spatially related to the granite cupolas within silica-
oversaturated peralkaline fenites produced by intense post-magmatic
carbonatitic fluid circulation. Along the northeastern periphery of the
complex, cassiterite/sphalerite mineralisation occurs in quartz veins
in greisens within the complex (Diehl, 1993).
Approximately 20 km southwest of the town of Arandis,
hydrothermal replacement veins, with abundant cassiterite, occur in
coarse-grained marbles of the Neoproterozoic Karibib Formation of
the Damara succession. The mineralogy of the Sn-rich veins is
complex, and commonly includes a variety of sulphides and hydrated
iron oxides. Veins may be related to Pan-African or Mesozoic
magmatism.
Tertiary to Recent
Eluvial and alluvial deposits of cassiterite are widespread around
primary ore deposits in southern Africa, but none of these have been
major producers. In the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex, new
areas are presently under exploration in the Mokopane district, and
projects exist to recover the metal from old tin tailings dumps and
subsequently build opencast mines. According to Bushveld Minerals,
the recovery of cassiterite from the Zaaiplaats tin tailings dumps could
produce up to 4,500 tonnes of tin (source: miningweekly.com).
Recently, artisanal local activities have developed in the northeast of
Zimbabwe at the Benson Mine, Sutswe, Rusambo and Shamva
(Melcher et al., 2015). Elsewhere, there has been no production from
eluvial or alluvial deposits in Swaziland for several decades, nor from
deposits in Namibia in recent years.
Future exploration potential
Many of the cassiterite-hosted deposits described in this paper
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still had significant resources when mines closed following the
dramatic 1985 price drop. Due to an anticipated increase in demand,
as soon as there is a sustained increase in metal price, a large-scale
restart of the tin mining activity in Africa is possible. In Morocco, the
Achmmach tin prospect has the potential to produce about 5,300 t/y
of tin concentrate, over a life-of-mine of nine years. In Egypt, the
44.5 Mt Abu Dabbab deposit has recently been prospected, although
in late 2015 development had been suspended. The Kibaran Belt of
Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC, has considerable potential for small-
scale artisanal mining and the development of the Bisie project. In
South Africa, in the northern Bushveld limb, new areas are presently
under exploration in the Mokopane district, and projects exist to
recover the metal from old tin tailings dumps and subsequently build
opencast mines as described above.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Matt Terracin for drafting diagrams and to Luke
Longridge for thoughtful comments on the original manuscript. The
NRF-DST Centre of Excellence, CIMERA, is acknowledged for
financial support.
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Judith Kinnaird is an Associate Professor
of Economic Geology in the School of
Geosciences, Director of the Economic
Geology Research Institute at the University
of the Witwatersrand and co-Director of
CIMERA, a South African national centre
of excellence for the study of minerals and
energy. She gained an Honours BSc degree
from the University of London, and an MSc
and PhD from the University of St. Andrews
in Scotland for research on tin-tungsten and
columbite-bearing granites in ring
complexes in Nigeria. She has worked on
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chromium in the Bushveld Complex,
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Paul Nex obtained a first-class BSc
(Honours) degree in Earth Science from
Oxford Brookes University in 1991 and a
PhD for his research on uranium
mineralisation in sheeted leucogranites in
Namibia from the National University of
Ireland in 1997. His current research
interests are in critical metals, particularly
antimony and rare earth elements, uranium
mineralisation in Namibia and
mineralisation in the Bushveld Complex.
Lorenzo Milani obtained an MSc in
Economic Geology and a PhD in Petrology
at Ferrara University (Italy). As
postdoctoral fellow, at Ferrara University
he worked mostly on the petrogenesis of the
Mediterranean area. In 2011 he joined the
Economic Geology Research institute
(EGRI) at the University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he
was part of a project working on the tectono-
magmatic correlations between the Damara
Belt of Namibia and the Lufilian Arc of
Zambia. Since 2015 he has been a part of a
CIMERA research group and is working on
the sulfide-rich carbonatite complex of
Phalaborwa, South Africa.
June 2016