The Minerals of the Nchanga Mine, With Richard Richard Le Suer

The Minerals of Nchanga Mine With Richard Le Suer

The Nchanga Mining Complex is situated on the outskirts of Chingola, which is one of the five main mining towns within the Copperbelt Province in the North West of Zambia in central Africa. The Copperbelt is one of the largest metallogenic provinces ( mineral deposits formed during  a major event/epoch) in the world and stretches from the Southern part of the DRC across the border into Zambia some 300kms long. The orebodies are sedimentary in origin and have been subjected to various periods of techtonic pressure and folding as well as late stage and typically deep African oxidation profiles. The result of these geological conditions have created ideal conditions for some of the most beautiful copper secondary minerals to form in fissures and geodes within the rocks.  Richard will a couple specimens to the meeting ~ maybe  even a world class metatorbenite.

About Our Speaker.

I am a retired Mining Geologist/Mining Engineer and have spent nearly 40 years on Copper/Gold and Coal operations in Zambia, South

Africa, Mali, Tanzania and Colombia. I started as a field Mining Geologist in charge of the effective mining and grade control of the three orebodies at Nchanga Open Pit. I progressed through the operational mine planning, drilling/blasting and production functions, later into Feasibility studies and mine development and finally in my last 10 years, to general management.
My interest in minerals started at the age of seven on holiday in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. My cousins introduced me to dragging a circular radio magnet through a dry stream bed and collecting magnetite. In the same stream bed we found perfect water clear quartz crystals an eighth of an inch thick and up to two inches long. From that day on I was hooked and still have a few of those treasures to this day. Richard Le Suer

The October meeting will be held on October 4th  at the Knox United Church Meeting, 2569 Midland Ave, beginning at 8:00 pm.  This will be a great meeting for mineral collectors