Adrian and Will are just back from a fieldcourse in Namibia from the 20th to the 29th of April 2018. The course was organised and hosted by Dr Pete Siegfried of GeoAfrica Consultants through the HiTech AlkCarb consortium. We looked at several alkaline igneous complexes North of Windhoek, particularly focussing on some that have commercial interest. The trip also included a visit to the Otjikoto Gold Mine, managed by the company B2GOLD.
The trip included several experts on Namibian geology including Scott Swinden of Namibia Rare Earths, Alan Marlowe of Shali group and several staff from the Namibian Geological Survey, including Jeremiah Simon (pictured above). We also were accompanied by Ed Loye whose company holds the Eureka Carbonatite licence.
The trip covered many of the regions most promising rare element prospects including the Th-poor monazite carbonatite at Eureka and the xenotime-rich carbonatite at Lofdal. The field programme was accompanied by evening lectures which supported the daytime programme and allowed a forum for discussing how these unusual and significant igneous centres formed.
We would like to thank everyone associated with the trip but particularly Pete Siegfried (who organised the trip) and Mark Dawe and his team at B2GOLD Namibia who entertained us at the mine at Otjikoto.
Professor Adrian Finch 