LOCATION
Kenticha lithium – tantalum pegmatite mine deposit is located in western Guji zone of Oromia Regional Administrative State, 550kms south of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia
Geological setting of the area
• The tantalum-bearing pegmatite deposit in Kenticha Field is exposed over a 2.5 km-long and 40 to 70m-wide area occurring in a package of steeply dipping serpentinites and talc-tremolite schists.
• The thickness of the pegmatite varies. In locations where both hanging and footwall contacts are exposed, thickness ranges from 40 to 70 meters.
• The tantalite occurs in grain size from a few millimeters up to about 5 cm. Weathering has affected the feldspar and most of the lithium-bearing minerals, whereas tantalite is unaffected by the weathering.
• The deeper part of the ore body is hard rock, non-weathered pegmatite. This ore body has about the same tonnage as the weathered orebody but has not yet been exploited.
• Apart from columbite, several lithium minerals such as lepidolite and spodumene are found. Furthermore, small amounts of beryl and sulfides occur.
• Mining of tantalum niobium, which focuses principally on the main Kenticha pegmatite site, contributes to about 10% of world consumption.
• Other rare metal-bearing pegmatites (Bupo, Kilkile, Dermidama) lie along the northern and southern extension as well as in the eastern sub-parallel trends of Kenticha pegmatite
