Post-Conference Field Trip | FT08   View all field trips

Zimbabwe - Great Dyke

Date: October 1-5, 2024

Location: Departing from Harare, Zimbabwe and returning to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Leaders: Caston Musa and Andrew du Toit

Attendee Maximum: 20

20% of spaces are reserved for students and recent graduates, and are offered at a discounted rate.

SOLD OUT

Description

One of Zimbabwe's most iconic geological landmarks is the Great Dyke, a Mafic-Ultramafic Layered Complex that spans the country. It is a significant source of chromite and platinum group metals. The field trip will provide an overview of the region's stratigraphy, structure, mineralization, and layering as well as appreciating the shear size of the Great Dyke.

The trip will start at the Great Dyke northern limits, exploring various sites like the world renown Tengenenge Art Gallery and Mutorashanga chrome fields, where participants will gain some appreciation of the pyroxenites, serpentinites, and chromitite layers of the bronzitite succession associated with seams 4 to 11. The itinerary includes visits to platinum deposits on the second day exploring the Mafic units at Hartley and Ngezi, as well as main sulphide zone reef and other interesting geological features in the Ngezi open pits. The trip will proceed to Shurugwi with roadside stops to explore the Mafic units and PGM mineralization on surface and underground at Unki Mine.

The journey will provide some game viewing experience at Antelope Park and proceed to exploring the Mimosa environs including chrome mining of the upper 1 and 2 seams in Zvishavane and concluding in Bulawayo. Participants can also opt for tours to the Matopos, Chipangali, Hwange Game Park, and Victoria Falls from Bulawayo.

About the Leaders

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Caston Musa

Anglo American Platinum - Unki Mine

Caston works for Unki Mine in Zimbabwe and graduated from the University of Zimbabwe. He began his career as a graduate trainee at Anglo American's exploration division and worked on the Great Dyke of Zimbabwe, where he interacted with many key Great Dyke researchers. Later, he completed an MSc in economic geology from Rhodes University and has published papers on the geology of the Great Dyke.

Headshot

Andrew du Toit

Managing Director, Canister Resources

Caston will be assisted by Andrew, Managing Director at Canister Resources and long-time Zimbabwean geologist. Andrew, commencing his career at the Geological Survey of Zimbabwe where he did a mapping project on the Proterozoic basin located north of Zimbabwe. Later he was involved in gold and copper exploration culminating in the discovery and commissioning of the Heap leach Sanyati Copper mine. Andrew then moved to the Great Dyke, spending several years working at Zimbabwe Platinum Mines, where he was involved with platinum extraction from the Great Dyke. More recently, Andrew is working on an Archaean gold deposit, buried under 40m of Karoo and Kalahari cover.

Itinerary (Preliminary)

Day 1 - Tuesday, October 1

  • Arrival at Harare International Airport and accommodation at Cresta Lodge, Harare.

Day 2 - Wednesday, October 2

  • 7:00am: Departure from Holiday Inn - drive to the North Dyke - Mutorashanga Area and visit various chromite seam outcrops and structural features
  • 1:00pm: Visit to Tenegenege Art Gallery
  • 2:30pm: Travel to Pamazinda Lodge

Day 3 - Thursday, October 3

  • 7:30am: Departure from Pamazinda
  • 8:00am: Ngezi open pit visit
  • 2:00pm: Departure from Ngezi
  • 2:30pm: Arrival at Antelope Park

Day 4 - Friday, October 4

  • 7:30am: Departure from Antelope Park
  • 8:30am: Arrival at Unki Mine - underground visit
  • 4:00pm: Game drive at Antelope Park

Day 5 - Saturday, October 5

  • 7:30am: Departure from Antelope Park
  • 9:00am: Exploring the Great Dyke in the vicinity of Mimosa Mine
  • 4:00pm: Departure for Bulawayo
  • 5:30pm: Arrival in Bulawayo
  • 7:00pm: Final dinner at the Smoke House in Bulawayo

Registration

Early Deadline: July 22, 2024
Regular Deadline: September 12, 2024

  Early Regular
SEG Professional Member SOLD OUT
SEG Student and Recent Graduate Members SOLD OUT
Non-member SOLD OUT
All prices are in United States dollars (USD). SEG reserves the right to cancel this event should minimum attendance numbers not be met by July 22, 2024. All registrants will be given a full refund should SEG cancel the field trip. Cancellation policy, event photography, dietary restrictions, and more are detailed in the SEG Conference terms and conditions.

All field trip registrants will be required to provide proof of emergency medical evacuation coverage in order to participate in conference field trips. Individuals may conveniently purchase this coverage online through various organizations such as International SOS or utilize existing coverage that they may already have through their employment. Further details and additional required documentation will be shared with registrants.

SOLD OUT