Mining cobalt in Morocco
M
anagem SA is
Morocco’s largest
privately owned
mining group. VULCAN is
used at all of Managem’s
mine sites throughout
Morocco. The oldest of these is the Bou-
Azzer underground cobalt mine which
started production in 1928. Bou-Azzer is
south of Ouarzazate in southern Morocco
in the central Anti-Atlas Mountain Range.
Bou-Azzer is currently operated by CTT,
a Managem subsidiary.
The deposit is hosted within a
Precambrian ophiolite complex and is
characterised by its high grade of arsenic
intermingled with cobalt. Managem’s
Akka gold mine and Imiter silver mine are
also in the Anti-Atlas Mountain Range.
Major geological units of the Anti-Atlas belt in
southern Morocco, showing the location of the
Bou-Azzer deposit
Cobalt is associated with arsenic in
narrow vein structures found at the
contact of the serpentine and a quartz
rich diorite. These rocks are very
competent and have a variable contact.
The mineralised veins are vertically
continuous for an estimated 200 metres.
Cobalt grade distribution within the Bou-Azzer orebody displayed
with the topography and underground mine infrastructure
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Lenses of volcanics and diorite of varying
lengths and thicknesses are also found
along the contact with the serpentine.
There is also an intra-serpentine structure
of weak carbonated serpentine.
The deposit is accessed through shafts
reaching down to 400 metres below the
surface. A cut and fill method of mining is
used on 40 to 50 metre spaced levels.
Historically the deposit was mined on
cuts of 2.5 metres by 1.2 metres.
VULCAN is used at every stage of the
geological interpretation of the deposit.
Raw geological data is entered into an
external database and imported into
VULCAN via an ODBC link.
The mine design and survey data is
incorporated into VULCAN, and
representative sections are then plotted
through the deposit. The geologists at
CTT use the batch plotting option to
achieve this in an efficient and effective
way. The orebody is then modelled by the
Perspective view of 3D underground mine
geologist responsible for that area of the workings and geological models
mine. This is interpreted on paper and
then digitised and modelled in VULCAN the geologists from their experience of
to create the three dimensional orebody. the deposit. This information is used to
run reserves in VULCAN, which are then
The orebody modelling process requires used for mine planning and production.
all the geologist’s skills and intuitive
understanding of the deposit. It is a VULCAN is being used with success
challenge to model this narrow vein throughout Managem’s mines in
deposit between levels and through Morocco.
different lithologies.
Thanks to
Once the geology has been modelled, Abdelhak Nouasri, Geomatician
VULCAN is then used to produce a CTT
resource/reserve model. The geologist
creates a block model of the deposit,
populating the blocks with numerous
variables including
thickness, rock type,
cobalt and arsenic grade.
Statistics, geostatistics
and variography are run
on the geological
information and used
in the grade estimation
process. An inverse
distance weighting
approach is taken for the
grade estimation, using
parameters specified by Long section view of cobalt grade distribution
and underground development levels
Reproduced from Forge 4 2005
©2005 Maptek Pty Ltd info@maptek.com.au