MAIOMBE
On February 1, 2013 Kilimanjaro acquired a 49% non controlling interest in Maiombe Ouro e Minerais Ltd, a private Belize IBCR registered mining company based outside Pointe-Noire, Congo which has 20 year concession to the COOPÉRATIVE MINIER DE DÉVELOPPEMENT DU MAYOMBE "COMDDM" obtained from the Republic of Cabinda. Maiombe Ouro e Minerais is in the process of establishing a subsidiary in the Republic of the Congo to conduct exploration and test drilling in the last quarter of 2013.
The COMDDM equates to the historic Maiombe Gold Mining Region. Artisinal gold mining in Cabinda has largely been concentrated in the Maiombe region of Cabinda. It has been reported that historically approximately 500 kg of gold have been removed from this region, mainly from small tributaries of the Luali River in central Cabinda. The alluvial gold was associated with vein quartz in granite. The average recovered grade varied between 1 and 2g/m3 however, a number of higher grade "pockets" were recorded.
Prior to 1975, 90% of the gold produced in Portuguese Africa originated from Maiombe mainly from small-scale alluvial sources with grades about 1g/m3, and related to greenstone belts..Post 1975 information is lacking due to the civil war between the FAA and FLEC-FAC which have led to a suspension of any commercial mining efforts.
There have been two exploration/mining expeditions by FLEC to the COMDDM in 2007 and 2011. In each case gold and other minerals were documented. Anecdotal and photographic observations suggest that the area is a mineral storehouse, largely untapped that would benefit from professional exploration efforts.
At present, there are plans for an exploration of the region for both gold and diamonds. Diamonds are the most important mineral resource after oil, occurring in kimberlites and a variety of placer deposits. At least 700 kimberlites are known, of varying size and shape. The diamond grade increases with depth. The kimberlites are aligned along a NE-SW trend, which extends into the Democratic Republic of Congo. Most of the alluvial diamonds are produced from the erosion of Cretaceous kimberlites. The richest fields are located in Lunda Norte in the northeast of Angola approximately 200KM south of Maiombe.
The West Congolian mobile belt extends for over 1,300 km from Gabon southwards through the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, to northern Angola. It contains three structural zones, which are from east to west the external zone with sub-horizontal strata, the median folded zone and the internal zone consisting of intrusive and pre-west basement rocks. The older rocks in the internal zone are the Mayumbian and the Zadinian Supergroups, representing the infilling of a Kibaran-age continental rift, which was deformed and thrust eastwards during the Pan-African orogeny in the West Congolian. The external and median zones contain the West Congolian Supergroup, a sequence of low-grade metasediments. Because of its elongate basin geometry, the occurrence of high-energy debris flow deposits (mixtites), red beds and basic volcanics in its lower part, sedimentation has been assumed to have started in a fault-bounded continental rift, probably at around 1.1 Ga.
Sediments of Palaeozoic to Mesozoic age are mainly preserved in the northern central to northwestern geological depression, called Cassanje Graben. These magmatic and sedimentary rocks are related to the Karoo Supergroup. During these period magmatic activities caused the emplacement of diverse sub-volcanic to volcanic bodies, including kimberlites, carbonatites, basalts, dolerites, syenites, trachytes and phonolites. The kimberlite and carbonatite bodies are located along a major trend line, which transects Angola diagonally from southwest to northeast. The mining of manganese, quartz and low-grade uranium, all of which have been little developed, represent another avenue of opportunity.
