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The Panda Hill Carbonatite is an apatite and pyrochlore bearing sovite carbonatite located in the Mbeya District of Tanzania. The deposit was found in the mid-1950s by the then Geological Survey of Tanganyika (now Tanzania). Niobium ore occurs largely in pyrochlore bearing sovite (carbonatite composed largely of calcite) and dolmite-rich carbonatite. The deposit also contains lesser phosphate mineralisation associated with apatite. == History == Panda Hill was first developed for niobium in the late 1950s and early 1960s by the then N. V. Billiton. A pilot mill and small open pit mine operated from 1957 to 1960 that produced concentrate that was then shipped to the Netherlands for further processing. The deposit is currently under development by Cradle Resources〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.cradleresources.com.au/projects.asp?ref=123 )〕 to mine niobium by open pit mining methods. The project has reported resources of 96 million tonnes of mineralisation at an average grade of 0.52% Nb2O5.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.cradleresources.com.au/_content/documents/CXX%20-%20PANDA%20HILL%20RESOURCE%20UPDATE.pdf )〕 If successful the Panda Hill niobium deposit will be the first niobium mine in Africa. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Panda Hill Carbonatite」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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