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Beeshoek |
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Northern Cape, South Africa |
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Fe
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The Beeshoek operation is located some 70 km to the south of Sishen in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and 7 km west of Postmasburg (#Location: 28° 17' 6"S, 23° 0' 27"E).
It comprises four pits which feed ore to a central crushing, screening and washing plant that produced 5 Mt of lump, DRI and fines ore in 2001 for rail transport to, and export from Saldanha Bay near Cape Town.
Like Sishen, Beeshoek is associated with the Manganore Iron Formation, localised at the unconformity between the Campbellrand Formation dolomites of the Ghaap Group and the unconformably overlying Gamagara Formation, but on the opposite (or southern) limb of the Maremane Dome.
For more detail on the setting and stratigraphy see the separate Sishen record.
Four types of ore are found at Beeshoek, as follows: i). Thaba ore - hematised cherty banded iron formation near the base of the Manganore Iron Formation; ii). Laminated ore - hematised finely banded iron formation from near the top of the Manganore Iron Formation; iii) Conglomeratic ore - of the Doornfontein Conglomerate, the basal unit of the Gamagara Formation; and iv) Detrital ore.
The bulk of the ore is the conglomeratic type, deposited in a NNE trending palaeo-channel developed in the erosional surface upon which the Gamagara Formation was deposited, and forms the basal unit of that formation. It comprises a poorly sorted mixture of rounded and angular pebbles in a highly ferruginous matrix. The angular clasts imply relatively short transport distance from source. The Doornfontein Conglomerate most likely represents an alluvial fan filling solution hollows on a palaeo-karst surface, close to the source hematised Manganore Iron Formation. Maximum ore thickness reaches 55m, but rapidly thins on the uneven palaeo-karst basement requiring substantial drilling programs to outline pre-mining reserves.
The Beeshoek mine is owned by Assmang Ltd (50% ARM, 45.5% Assore) and commenced operation in 1961. Beeshoek South, a new southern extension, was commissioned in 1999 and currently provides 70% of the ore treated. Production form the mine in 2014 was 2.1 Mt of ore.
Remaining measured + indicated rsources in 2014 (ARM Resources) were:
117.5 Mt @ 63.75% Fe
The most recent source geological information used to prepare this decription was dated: 2001.
This description is a summary from published sources, the chief of which are listed below.
© Copyright Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd. Unauthorised copying, reproduction, storage or dissemination prohibited.
Beeshoek
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Selected References:
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Grobbelaar W S, Beukes N J 1986 - The Bishop and Glosam Manganeses Mines and the Beeshoek Iron Ore Mine of the Postmasburg Area: in Anhaeusser CR, Maske S (Eds), 1986 Mineral Deposits of Southern Africa Geol. Soc. of South Africa, Johannesburg v1 pp 957-961
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Porter GeoConsultancy Pty Ltd (PorterGeo) provides access to this database at no charge. It is largely based on scientific papers and reports in the public domain, and was current when the sources consulted were published. While PorterGeo endeavour to ensure the information was accurate at the time of compilation and subsequent updating, PorterGeo, its employees and servants: i). do not warrant, or make any representation regarding the use, or results of the use of the information contained herein as to its correctness, accuracy, currency, or otherwise; and ii). expressly disclaim all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or conclusions contained herein.
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