File:Carbon Leader Gold Ore, South Africa 3.jpg
The Witwatersrand area of South Africa produces a significant percentage of the world's gold. This is a spectacular sample of Precambrian high-grade gold ore from South Africa’s Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine. The rock is from the Carbon Leader (also known as the Carbon Leader Reef & Carbon Leader Seam), a blackened, hydrocarbon-rich stromatolitic interval richly impregnated with native gold (Au) and radioactive uraninite/pitchblende (UO2). This is a paleoplacer deposit, part of an ancient alluvial fan succession.
Stratigraphy & Age: Carbon Leader Member, Main Conglomerate, lower Johannesburg Subgroup, lower Central Rand Group, Witwatersrand Supergroup, lower Neoarchean, ~2.9 billion years old.
Locality: Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine, Carletonville Goldfield, West Witwatersrand (“West Wits”), South Africa.Licensing
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This image was originally posted to Flickr by jsj1771 at https://www.flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/14533130120. It was reviewed on 1 August 2014 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |