< Back to previous page

Project

Diagenesis and alteration associated with the Cu-Co mineralized rocks in the Central African Copperbelt

The stratiform copper and associated cobalt mineralization in the Central African Copperbelt, spreading from Zambia to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is the largest sediment-hosted copper-cobalt province on Earth, hosting at least 200 Mt copper and 8 Mt cobalt (Cailteux et al. 2005; El Desouky et al., 2009; Musuil, 2019). The origin of the Cu-Co mineralization in the Copperbelt is debatable, ranging from epigenetic-magmatic (Davidson, 1931; Jackson, 1932), through syn-sedimentary (Fleischer et al., 1976; Garlick, 1989), to early or late diagenesis (Bartholomé, 1974; Unrug, 1988; Sweeney et al., 1991; Muchez et al., 2015), to basin inversion, contractional tectonism and associated uplift and exhumation (Sillitoe et al., 2010; Musuil, 2019). Although alteration processes of the host rock related to the Cu-Co mineralizing fluids have been described, the relation between the diagenetic processes generally occurring during burial in sedimentary basins and the alteration processes is largely unknown, especially in the Congolese part of the Copperbelt. The objective of the research is: 1) to reconstruct the paragenesis of the processes occurring during diagenesis and alteration in the Congolese Copperbelt, 2) to determine the degree of diagenesis of the Katangan rocks and the possible alteration of the maturity indicators due to the migration and interaction with the mineralizing fluids and 3) to specify the timing of specific diagenetic and alteration phases by radiometric age dating.

Date:19 Oct 2021 →  Today
Keywords:Central African Copperbelt, Alteration process, Diagenesis, Sedimen-hosted deposits, Copper sulphides, Cobale sulphides
Disciplines:Mineralogy and crystallography, Geology not elsewhere classified, Geochronology, Petrology
Project type:PhD project