Barry Job is asking about information on the "Selukwe Gold Mining and Finance
Company".
Mining Magazine in December 1991 carried an article entitled "Ore Definition
in Shurugwi Chrome Mines, Zimbabwe", By Themba Pahla, Underground Planning
Manager, Shurugwi Mine, Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting Company (Private) Ltd.
The article opened as follows:
The author discusses the definition of ore in Shurugwi by tracing it from its mineralogy
through the cut-off grades, and then defines the ternary blending domain of Cr[2]O[3],
FeO and SiO[2]. The economic aspects of ore have not been discussed, but mention
has been made of ZIMASCO's operations strategy which keeps the operations buoyant.
Union Carbide Corporation has mining interests in Zimbabwe, primarily mining and
smelting chromite, with gold mining on a lesser scale. Chromite mining is undertaken
by Union Carbide's subsidiary company, Zimbabwe Mining and Smelting Company
(ZIMASCO), at Shurugwi, Mutorashanga, Lalapanzi and Guinea Fowl. The smelting
is done in Kwe Kwe.
Chromite mining in Shurugwi (formerly Selukwe) started as open cast workings in 1905.
Currently mining is by underground methods. Shurugwi Division operates three
properties, namely Railway Block Mine (200,000 t/y ore), Peak Mine (138,000 t/y) and
Small Mines (80,000 t/y).
Since 1906, ore in Shurugwi has experienced a gradual shift from the high grades of
over 48% Cr[2]O[3] to the present 42% Cr[2]O[3]. The FeO content has had little or
no change over the years. The silica content was not a problem in the past as reserves
were vast and sufficient to warrant exclusion of those high grade ores that contained
high silica values.
The mine sorting plant and the heavy media circuit reduces the dilution levels of ore
by physical removal (hand sorting) and by the density differential removal of waste rock
from the ore.
A later article in the September 1996 issue of Mining Magazine, by John Chadwick on
the Hartley Platinum mine, contained the statement:
One of Zimbabwe's other major mining houses, Anglo American, a very significant
platinum producer in South Africa, is active on its Unki property at Shurugwe in the
Selukwe Complex which lies between the Hartley and Wedza Complexes.
From the first of these references it looks as though the Selukwe Gold Mining and
Finance Company became part of Union Carbide, but I am guessing when I say this.
Tony Brewis
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