Geology and metallogeny of the mobile Magondi belt in the west of the Republic of Zimbabwe

Western Zimbabwe is the Paleoproterozoic Magondi Mobile Belt activated in the Neoproterozoic and Mesozoic. The Paleoproterozoic volcanogenic–sedimentary deposits contain copper and ores deposits attributed respectively to stratiform formations of cuprous sandstone and polymetallic formations in carbonate rocks. As a result of the analysis of geological structure of the deposits, an assumption is made that they belong to the pyritic copper and polymetallic pyrite formations and are related to volcanism. A large number of deposits and ore occurrences of tin, beryllium, tantalum and lithium in granite pegmatites and tungsten in quartz veins are associated with the Neoproterozoic era. Kimberlite pipes are found in the Mesozoic sediments of the cover. Most of the deposits are mined out but the prospects for discovering new objects are far from being exhausted. Despite many years of geological study of the area under discussion, many questions of the genesis of mineralization, its age and connection with geological formations remain insufficiently studied, and no metallogenic studies have been carried out. New ideas about the origin of the Belt and on the connection of copper and polymetallic mineralization with volcanism are substantiated. Metallogenic zoning of this part of Zimbabwe is carried out on a scale of 1:2500000 with the delineation of metallogenic zones. The occurrence patterns of the deposits and the metallogenic zoning of the western part of Zimbabwe can allow determining ore contents in the delineated metallogenic zones and estimating the metallogenic potential. The research was supported by Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Project No. 075-15-2023-625 Creation of a Digital Prognostic–Mineralogenic Framework of the Republic of Zimbabwe Using Remote Sensing Data and Subsequent Identification of Tectonic and Fluid-Fracture Features of Structures Controlling the Distribution of Mineral Deposits.