Geochemical, mineralogical and tenor variation studies were carried out on the cores from UMT040, UMT064 and UMT063, located in the Flatreef on Turfspruit, in the southern sector of the Platreef. The investigation comprised three objectives (1) to identify controls on mineralisation in the upper section of the Platreef, (2) to construct a 3D PGE tenor model, and (3) to test whether the new geological interpretation on Turfspruit correlates with the eastern and western limbs of the Bushveld Complex. The above-mentioned holes were used for geochemical analyses of major and trace elements; and UMT064 was also used for orthopyroxene microprobe analyses. For construction of the tenor model, a total of 276 drill holes were used. The distance between drill holes for geochemical studies is 145 m and 175 m respectively; and for the tenor model is approximately 100 m. The outcomes of the study have demonstrated that the upper section of the Platreef comprise at least four lithological units i.e. the topmost portion of T1, lowermost portion of T1, T2 Upper and T2 Lower that can be interpreted to have been formed by four separate pulses of magma. Considering the possibility of the T2 Lower being metamorphosed calc-silicates, this reduces the number of magma pulses to three. This is supported by the mineralogy, geochemical content and tenor variations. The T1 is made up of an orthopyroxenite (feldspathic in places), the T2 Upper comprised a pegmatoidal orthopyroxenite (also feldspathic in places) and the T2 Lower is made up of a harzburgite. High grade PGE, Ni and Cu mineralisation was found to occur within two zones in the upper section of the Platreef i.e. the T1m and T2 (Upper and Lower). Mineralisation occurs in the form of base metal sulphides such as pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite; and PGEs are dominated by amphoterics (PGE-arsenides, tellurides, antimonides and bismuthinides). These amphoterics are associated with base metal sulphides. The sulphides in both the T1m and T2 are interstitial. PGE minerals such as michenerite, sperrylite, hollingworthite and cooperite are present in the study area. In the T2, an increase in sulphide content and PGE grades are generally associated with the presence of the “main” chromitite stringer/ seam at the contact between a feldspathic pyroxenite (T1) and the coarse-grained to pegmatoidal pyroxenite (T2 Upper). Several other chromitites might be present above and below this contact, and it has been noted that not all of those chromitites are associated with an increase in sulphide content and higher PGE grades. PGE grades were found to be higher in T2 Upper than in T2 Lower, whereas, the base metals (particularly Ni) are generally higher in T2 Lower. In the T1m, mineralisation occurs close to the contact between the feldspathic pyroxenite and orthopyroxenite, but only the orthopyroxenite hosts the sulphides. Chromitite stringers rarely occur in the T1m. Where present, they generally occur at the top of the mineralised zone. The sulphides in both the T1m and T2 are thought to have resulted from separate and different processes. Those in the T1m are thought to have resulted from a fractional segregation process, whereas the sulphides in the T2 were thought to have been emplaced in bulk or as a mush. The 3D PGE tenor model has demonstrated that the tenor in both the T1 and T2 are higher than previously thought for the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex. Tenors in the T1 reach up to 700 ppm, whereas tenors of about 1000 ppm were recorded in the T2. These tenors are comparable to the tenors measured from the sulphide melt inclusions elsewhere in the northern limb. Tenors are the highest in the northwestern part of Turfspruit and they gradually decrease towards the southeast. Both the T1 and T2 are dominated by a tenor of about 100 ppm. In the T1, a tenor of 250 ppm is dominant in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the study area, whereas in the T2 it is only dominant in the northwestern part. Vertical variation in tenors has shown that the tenors are the highest in the topmost portion of the T1 and at the top of T2 Upper (below the T1-T2 contact). The T1 has been found to be comparable with the Merensky Reef due to the following: (a) similarities with respect to major and trace element compositions of whole rock analyses; (b) Cr/MgO ratios which are greater than 80; and (c) similarities in the pyroxene content excluding the MgO/((MgO)+FeO) ratio and CaO contents; and in the PGE tenor of the sulphides. In addition, the T1 has many of the characteristics of the model proposed by Naldrett et al (2009) for the formation of the Merensky Reef in the western Bushveld. However, the differences between the T1 and the Merensky Reef were also noted i.e. the MgO/((MgO)+FeO) ratios in this study are lower (averaging 0.71) than the Mg# reported for the Merensky Reef (Mg#78-83), the upper Critical Zone (Mg#78-84) and elsewhere in the Platreef north of Turfspruit. The CaO levels (representing the wollastonite component of the orthopyroxene) at Turfspruit are higher (>2 wt %) compared to the Merensky Cyclic Unit and other parts of the northern limb where the CaO levels are below 2 wt %. This is an indication that the pyroxene composition at Turfspruit is more evolved compared to the Merensky Reef.

Authigenic clays are potential proxies for paleoclimate change when formed under saline conditions. Between 1.9 -1.7 mya, Olduvai was a closed-hydrologic basin into which Al- and Fe- rich detrital clays were transported from surrounding soils. Authigenic Mg-rich smectite formed within the basin due to chemical alteration in alkaline and saline conditions. 40 samples were chosen from a stratigraphic section in the center of the paleolake and analyzed to characterize the geochemical facies of the material using XRD, EMPA, and FTIR. ~70% of samples were Mg-rich with clay d060 XRD peaks between 1.506-1.523Å. EMPA indicated (Al2O3 + Fe2O3)/MgO ratios ranged from 0.2-4.8, 21 had ratios >1.0, indicating higher (Al2O3 + Fe2O3) content. These clay data correlated with bulk XRF data, indicating diagenetic controls on bulk composition. Therefore, bulk geochemistry can potentially indicate paleoclimate change when influenced by Mg-rich phyllosilicate formation.

The determination of the timing of impact events and the ages of cratered planetary surfaces is a complex and challenging undertaking. A powerful approach to this endeavor is a multidisciplinary study; understanding and using data from both rock samples and remote sensing. Shocked material (especially melt material) found in meteorites like Orvinio provides critical material dating impact craters. Orvinio, in spite of a complex degassing history shows evidence for multiple impacts at 4.2 Ga, 7.5 Ma, and possibly 330 Ma. Correlating impact histories for inner solar system bodies and the asteroid belt will constrain the genesis of impactor populations. Determining the recent cratering history of the Earth, however, is complicated by surface processes which erode and destroy impact craters. The Gardnos impact structure, for example, while possessing samples suitable for dating, has suffered substantial post-impact degassing due to metamorphism in the Caledonian orogeny ∼385 Ma. We must therefore look to the Moon to unravel the recent cratering history of the Earth-Moon system The Clementine mission data set provides an excellent resource for research into the bright rayed craters on the lunar surface. Studies of large rayed craters using the OMAT (optical maturity parameter) technique of Lucey and colleagues has revealed much information on the maturation of the crater ejecta. Profiles of OMAT values for the ejecta of large craters as a group show no evidence for an increase in the cratering rate during the Copernican era as advocated by Shoemaker. Future studies of both remote sensing and sample data will allow a better understanding of meteorite parent body impact histories and their implications for widespread epochs of increased impactor flux; the age-size correlation in lunar craters; the calibration of a large crater relative age scheme based on optical maturity with implications for the nature of the impactor flux in recent history; the nature of the recent small impactors on the lunar surface; implications for impact hazards on Earth today; and the best target sites for future landings and sample acquisition on the lunar surface.

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A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, December 2014. / During the acid leaching of uranium, gangue-reagent interactions have both negative and positive consequences. Gangue dissolution increases reagent costs, and in some cases can prevent the economic acid leaching of an ore, but can also increase uranium mineral exposure and improve recoveries. Due to rapid dissolution kinetics, the acid consumption characteristics of the various carbonate species are readily predicted, however the same is not true of silicate gangue. Due to factors including slower leach rates, incongruent dissolution, parabolic kinetics, and surface area, pH and temperature dependence, the gangue acid consumption characteristics of silicate minerals are significantly more complex. A detailed mineralogical investigation and acid leach tests were conducted on sandstone- and granite-hosted uranium ore samples. The dissolution characteristics of the more common gangue phases were determined. The study demonstrated that gangue-reagent interactions and U dissolution can be predicted from mineralogical data. A model was developed which allows for the use of mineralogical and geochemical data to predict gangue reagent consumption. The basic framework of the model is universally applicable, but may require calibration, depending on the mineral assemblage and complexity of a specific uranium deposit.

A Mina de diamantes de Romaria está localizada no perímetro urbano da cidade de Romaria, na região oeste de Minas Gerais. Durante os trabalhos de mineração executados nos últimos cem anos, foi lavrada uma área de aproximadamente 1 km2 de sedimentos. O local está situado na borda NE da Bacia do Paraná, na margem direita do Rio Bagagem, entre os Ribeirões Água Suja e Marrecos. Neste local vem sendo lavrado um conglomerado polimítico da Formação Uberaba, Grupo Bauru, pertencente ao Cretáceo Superior. Ele é constituído por clastos de micaxistos, anfibolitos, filitos e veios pegmatóides do Pré-Cambriano; arenitos da Formação Botucatu e basaltos da Formação Serra Geral. Possui matriz areno-argilosa onde foram identificadas as fases caulinita, illita e quartzo por difratometria. Sua espessura na área da mina oscila em torno de 6 m. Os minerais pesados separados do conglomerado diamantífero amostrado nas Frentes de Lavra 2 (Ferraria), 6 (Mangueiras) e na Cata exploratória do Sarkis, situada fora da área minerada, são constituídos em sua maior parte por fases opacas, entre as quais se destaca a magnetita, representando 50% em volume do concentrado. Outras fases opacas incluem hematita, ilmenita e fragmentos de lateritos. Entre as fases transparentes, destacase a granada que ocorre nas cores vermelha clara, vermelha escura, roxa, violeta e laranja, além de outros minerais derivados de rochas do embasamento cristalino. Análises químicas realizadas pela microssonda eletrônica revelaram que a ilmenita contém teores de MgO (7,4 - 11,4 % em peso) e de Cr2O3 (0,0 - 2,9 % em peso) típicos de rochas kimberlíticas. Da mesma forma, as granadas correspondem a piropos ricos em Cr2O3 (0,2 - 6,7 % em peso) correspondendo aos grupos G9 (lherzolitos), G5 e G4 (piroxenitos) e G10 (harzburgitos), sendo semelhantes a granadas das principais províncias kimberlíticas conhecidas. O diamante, por sua vez, contém microestruturas típicas semelhantes a diamantes de outras localidades. Foram identificadas trígonos em faces octaédricas, bem como microestruturas de simetria senária semelhantes às observadas em diamantes do lamproíto Argyle, na Austrália. Foram descritas microestruturas quadráticas nos cristais cúbicos, e degraus resultantes da dissolução de planos de crescimento cristalino em superfícies curvas de cristais rombododecaédricos. Atualmente a mina está paralisada desde 1984 devido a uma dívida contraída pela Extratífera de Diamantes do Brasil (EXDIBRA) com o Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social. Apesar do potencial mineral existente no local, qualquer tentava de lavra só poderá ser executada mediante a quitação desta dívida. / The diamond Mine of Romaria is located in the northeast border of the Paraná Sedimentary Basin, nearby the town of Romaria, in western Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The mining place is situated on the right side of the Bagagem River, comprising an area of 1 km2 between the Água Suja and Marrecos streams. At this place diamonds have been washed from a Cretaceous polimictic conglomerate of the Uberaba Formation, Bauru Group, since the end of the nineteen century. This heterogeneous diamond-bearing conglomerate contains large conglomerate blocks of several lithologies with dimensions up to 0.80 m, set in an arenous-clayish matrix where kaolinite, illite and quartz have identified among the clasts such as mica and staurolite schists, phyllites and amphibolites of the Araxá Group, quartzites of the Canastra Group, arenites of the Botucatu Formation and basalts of the Serra Geral Formation. The concentrates obtained by washing the conglomerate contains large amounts of opaques phases mainly magnetite which may reach up to 50% in volume. Other opaques are represented by hematite, ilmenite, rutile, limonite as well as rock fragments of mica schists and complex intergrowths of laterites. The mineralogical assemblages of the transparent phases include staurolite, amphibole, epidote, kyanite, monazite, tourmaline, zircon and diamond as well. Electron micro probe analyses revealed that the ilmenites contain MgO (7.4-11.4 wt%) and Cr2O3 (0.0-2.9 wt%) contents similar to their counterparts of kimberlites from worldwide localities. Moreover, garnets are chromium rich pyropes with Cr2O3 ranging from 0.2 up to 6.7 wt %. The use discriminating diagrams revealed that most of the analysed sampled plot in the fields G9 and G3-G5 corresponding to lherzolitic and pyroxenitic parageneses, respectively. The plots include some rare G10 (harzbugitic) and G0 (unclassified) samples corresponding to garnets derived from rocks of the crystalline basement. Although diamonds have not been mined in the last years a small parcel produced by local diggers (garimpeiros) was available for physical studies including color and crystalline morphology. Several microstructures have been observed in octahedral crystal such as trigons and a pseudo-hexagonal microstructure observed in diamonds from lamproites. Cubic crystals showing the combination of the cube and dodecahedral revealed microstructures of square symmetry. Concerning dodecahedral crystal hillocks produced by dissolution were observed on the rounded faces of the samples. Presently the Mine of Romaria is closed since 1984 due to an old debt contracted by late owner Extratífera de Diamantes do Brasil (EXDIBRA) with the Brazilian Federal Agency of the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Social (BNDES).

Unconformity-related uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin represent a significant global resource of uranium. One such deposit, the Phoenix Deposit, discovered in 2007 on Denison Mine’s Wheeler River property, shares similarities with other deposits in the Basin. The Phoenix Deposit is located at the apex between a basement shear structure, and the unconformity between the crystalline basement and overlying sandstones. The shear structure extends into the sandstones, this structure controls the distribution of alteration minerals in the basement and early alteration phases in sandstones. The shear structure extending to sandstones is not spatially associated with late alteration phases associated with the uranium deposit, suggesting that the structure was not important for uranium mineralisation. Bulk rock compositions of sandstones show chimney-like distribution of elements above the uranium deposit. The most notable ones are the distribution of yttrium, and boron. Rare earth elements and yttrium are not soluble in aqueous fluids at low temperatures and they are enriched in uranium ore. Therefore, the chimney-like distribution of elements are attributed to uraniferous hydrothermal activity in sandstones. Petrographic and chemical analysis of alteration associated with the Phoenix Deposit shows two types of tourmaline, a pre-ore (Tur 1) in the basement, which is likely a metamorphic product (Tur1) and a syn-ore magnesiofoitite (Tur 2) in the basement and the sandstones. Three generations of chlorite are identified within the alteration halo of the Phoenix Deposit; an early Fe-rich clinochlore (C1) in the basement and sandstones, the second generation, Mg-rich sudoitic chlorite (C2) in the basement, and a late, sudoitic chlorite (C3) in the basement and sandstones. Illite shows three types; an early and late M1 and a late M2. M1 is found as two polytypes, 1Mc and 1Mt, in the basement and sandstones, with the 1Mt having a spatial relationship with the uranium deposit. Late M2 illite is coarse-grained and occurs in the basement and sandstones. Near Infrared (NIR) spectra of sandstones overlying the deposit shows absorption features between 600 and 700 nm. It is considered that these absorption features appear to have been produced during late hydrothermal activity and may have a temporal as well as spatial relationship with uranium mineralisation.