Madagascar

CIA Factbook
Political rights and civil liberties (Freedom House)
French-English online dictionary
Travel and accommodation

Source: CIA Factbook

Maps and images

• Madagascar Google Satellite Maps
• Madagascar Cities,Towns, Airports, Maps, Images
• Madagascar Geology
• Madagascar Image-1
• Madagascar Image-2
• Madagascar Mineral Titles, Geology, Images
• Madagascar Minerals

Chrome

Click HERE for an overview

• Societe Kraomita Malagasy (Kraoma), which is Madagascar's main chromite producer, produces around 40,000 t/y of concentrates plus 80,000 t/y of lumpy ore from the Andriamana complex, and a further 20,000 t/y from the Befandriana mine.

Diamond

Click HERE for an overview

Gold in Madagascar

Gold Home

Click HERE for an overview

Geology

Madagascar’s gold deposits are possibly mostly Precambrian in age and mainly mesothermal lode type deposits, but there is also evidence of younger epithermal mineralization. See also Gold in Madagascar report.

• Numerous artisanal workings with an estimated production of 3 to 4 t of gold annually.The Dabolava region has been one of the most productive.

• Pan African Mining Corporation (Canadian, also active in Zambia, Mozambique, Congo and North Africa) holds prospecting permits in 16 areas throughout Madagascar, half of which cover gold prospects. The company comprehensively compiled historical data and is engaged in early stage exploration.

• Majescor Resources (Canadian) gold and base metal properties in Madagascar include, in addition to the Besakoa polymetallic VMS Cu-Au-Zn-Ag prospect in Tulear Province, southern Madagascar.: the Daraina property in North Madagascar, where initial surface sampling in August 2006 returned grades of up to 87 g/t gold and 75 g/t silver; the Analalava property, which is host to a series of untested historical Ni-Cu showings, and is completely surrounded by BHP-Billiton claims; and the Ankaramy property which shows potential for both SEDEX-type (Pb-Zn) and epithermal gold-silver.

Nickel

Click HERE for an overview (MBendi)

• Dynatec Corporation (Canadian, DY.TO) announced on October 30, 2006, the signing of a shareholders agreement for the Ambatovy Nickel Project. Under the agreement, Dynatec has been appointed project operator and will retain a 40% ownership interest. A 27,5% interest in the Project will be held by each of Sumitomo Corporation and Korea Resources Corporation (leading a consortium of Korean enterprises including Daewoo International Corporation, Keangnam Enterprises Ltd. and STX Corporation). SNC-Lavalin Inc. has agreed to acquire a 5% interest in Ambatovy coincident with the closing of the project debt financing. Dynatec will receive US$852 million of financial support from its partners, positioning it to fund its equity requirements for the Project and to meet a significant portion of its guarantee obligations for project debt financing. Ambatovy is among the largest nickel projects under development in the world, with annual design capacity of 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,600 tonnes of cobalt. It is anticipated that Ambatovy will be placed near the bottom of the industry cost curve based on expected low nickel production costs. The Ambatovy Project is based on mining two ore bodies that are about three kilometres apart. The Ambatovy and Analamay deposits are both laterite nickel deposits formed by the leaching of the ultramafic portion of a large intrusive complex. The deposits cover an area of about 1300 hectares, with a thickness from 20 to 100 metres (average thickness is approximately 40 metres). More than ninety percent of the deposit is classified as ferralite, some of which is underlain by saprolite. A material type termed low magnesium saprolite (LMS) lies below the ferralite and between the ferralite and saprolite, where the latter is present. Only the ferralite and LMS have been considered in the mine plan. The distribution of the saprolite is erratic; consequently it has been classified as inferred, and is not included in the measured and indicated resource, although its exploitation may prove to be economic. Exploration on the property has occurred in four campaigns: Bureau des Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) in 1962; GENiM, a mining consortium comprising Anglo-American, Société le Nickel, Ugine Kuhlmann, and BRGM in the early 1970s; Phelps Dodge in the mid-1990s; and Dynatec in 2003 and 2004. A total of 1282 diamond drill holes have been drilled representing approximately 55 000 metres of drilling. In addition, sample pits have been dug and appropriate surface mapping completed. Proven and probable mineral reserves are estimated at 125,0 million tonnes at an average grade of 1,04% nickel and 0,099% cobalt; additional low grade ore is estimated at 39,4 million tonnes at a grade of 0,69% nickel and 0,064% cobalt; this low grade ore is scheduled to be stockpiled then reclaimed and processed at the end of the mine life; average ore grade over the first 10 years of the mine plan is estimated at 1,12% nickel and 0,101% cobalt; the mine life is estimated to be 20,5 years, plus 6,5 years of stockpile recovery, giving a total production plan of 27 years; total recoverable metal over the production plan is estimated at 1,34 million tonnes of nickel and 122 000 tonnes of cobalt. Sherritt International Corporation and Dynatec Corporation jointly announced a transaction on April 20, 2007, whereby under a Plan of Arrangement Sherritt will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Dynatec for a total value of C$1.6 billion.

• Diamond Fields International Ltd announced on 9 May, 2007, that it had exercised its option to acquire the rights to the Valozoro nickel property in Madagascar and owned 100% of these exploration rights which are valid until May 2011. The Valozoro nickel deposit is located 60 kilometres north of the town of Fianarantsoa in south central Madagascar and is reported in the Catalogue des Principaux Gites Mineraux de Madagascar (Catalogue of Principal Mineral Deposits of Madagascar). During 1956 and 1957, UGINE completed an extensive prospecting program and reported an estimated resource of 3.7 million tons of lateritic ore (derived from an altered peridotite host) grading 1,75% nickel containing 65,000 tonnes of contained nickel metal.

• Jubilee Platinum plc reported encouraging results in October, 2007, from the most recent borehole drilled on the Antsahabe prospect, in the northern area of its Londokomanana property, in Madagascar.
  The borehole intersected 32 m of continuous nickel copper and sulphide mineralization at a shallow 30 m depth from the surface.
  The Londokomanana project is a joint venture with TransAsia Minerals Limited, which has the right to earn in 51% of the project, by spending $7-million.

Oil and Natural Gas

Click HERE for an overview

In April 2006, Madagascar opened up 96 new offshore oil and natural gas blocks for tender. The government accepted bids from interested parties until November 17, 2006. The licensing round is overseen by the Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Strategiques (OMNIS) and TGS-Nopec, which completed seismic data on the blocks. International oil and natural gas companies active in Madagascar include ExxonMobil, Norsk Hydro (Norway), Vanco Energy (U.S.), Vuna Resources (China) and SUNPEC International Ltd (China). The government was in the process of negotiating concessions with several other oil giants, including Chevron, Texaco, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total, Norway's Statoil and China's National Petroleum Corporation.

• Oil production: 90.59 bbl/day (2004 est.)

• Madagascar Oil is the current license holder of the Tsimiroro and Bemolanga tar sand deposits in the onshore Morondava Basin of Madagascar discovered in the early 1900s. Tsimiroro is a large heavy oil field at 100-300m depth. The block, with an area of 6,670 km2, is located in NW Madagascar about 100km from the coast. Sixty-one wells have been drilled on Tsimiroro’s 70 km² core area to date. With the use of SAGD the expected recovery factor is estimated to be 55%. The Company is currently executing a pilot project on Tsimiroro. Tsimiroro is also prospective for conventional hydrocarbons. A Tsimiroro sample of 22º API oil was reported in 1988 from a test well in the south of the block.l
  Bemolanga is a bitumen field at 0-30m depth with a reserve of 16.6 billion barrels (9.8 billion recoverable). The Bemolanga block, with an area of 7,175 km2, is located in NW Madagascar about 120km from the coast. Thirteen wells and over 500 core-holes have been drilled from the 1950s to the early 1980s and the surface mining area is defined by less than 40 meters depth to top tarsand. The average overburden in the surface mining area is around 15m, considerably less than average overburden in Canada. Madagascar Oil also has a 100% interest in conventional oil and gas exploration onshore blocks 2103, 3105, 3106, 3107 and a 50% interest in block 3109, where Tullow Oil is the operator.
  
  

• In 2005, U.K.-based Sterling Energy sold 70 percent of offshore Ambilobe and Ampasindava licenses to ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil plans to finance exploration work on the licenses.

• In August, 2005, Aminex plc announced the award of onshore exploration acreage in Madagascar. Aminex, with partner Mocoh Resources Ltd.(“Mocoh”), has been awarded the rights to Block 3108, known as Manja, onshore the west coast of Madagascar and covering an area of 10,725 square kilometres, (approximately 2.6 million acres).
  The rights to this block are held through a Production Sharing Agreement (“PSA”) between OMNIS, the Madagascar state oil and mining organisation and Amicoh Resources Limited (“Amicoh”), a newly formed company, in which Aminex and Mocoh each holds an equal number of shares and through which the shareholders will fund exploration activity in equal proportions. Mocoh is an active downstream African petroleum group with existing assets and distribution operations in a number of countries including Madagascar.
  

• Tullow Oil plc signed its first licence in Madagascar in early December 2005. Onshore Block 3109 (Mandabe), situated in the Morandava Basin, covers 11,050 sq km in the southwest of the country. The work programme includes a 6,700 km reconnaissance aerogravity survey to aid the design of a seismic acquisition programme. Tullow signed the PSA for a second licence in Oct 2006. The onshore Block 3111 (Berenty) lies adjacent to, and south of, Block 3109 and covers 9,050 sq km. The agreed work programme for the initial 3-year exploration period includes the acquisition of 200km of 2D seismic and the drilling of a well. This licence requires a presidential decree before it becomes effective.

Source: Tullow Oil

Platinum

Jubilee Platinum plc has joint ventures with both Implats and TransAsia Minerals on nickel-platinum exploration projects in Madagascar. In a friendly takeover bid announced on 28 October 2007, Xstrata offered to purchase all of the shares of Jubilee for $23 per share. The offer is due to close on February 15, 2008.

• Ambodilafa Project (49%- Implats 51%). Jubilee’s 4 kilometres wide by 20 kilometres long Ambodilafa concession is part of an area underlain by mafic-ultramafic rocks. The property is located some 160 kilometres southeast of the Madagascan capital, Antananarivo. Previous regional reconnaissance drilling by others in the area, in 1969, included an intersection of 93 metres of disseminated sulphides, containing pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite. The intersection included a 1,5 metre intercept assaying 2,2% nickel and 0,35% copper. The drill cores were not analysed for their PGE content, but later stream sediment sampling in 1990 defined several drainage catchments in the vicinity of the area drilled, which showed anomalous platinum and palladium values.
  

• Londokomanana Project. Located 150 kilometres north of Antananarivo with an inferred 22-kilometre total strike length of nickel-copper mineralization over north (Antsahabe) and south (Lavatrafo) Londokomanana. Peak trench values have been obtained in Lavatrafo of up to 4,62 g/t 2PGE (platinum and palladium) plus gold, 1,2% nickel and 0,39% copper. The Company has drilled two boreholes, LAV1 and LAV2 in the Lavatrafo property (south Londokomanana) on targets identified by geophysics and geochemistry. The two boreholes, some 150 metres apart on strike, intersected a very thick -58 metre and 75 metre true widths - multi-metal nickel-copper-platinum-palladium-gold formation at relatively shallow - 27 and 73 metres depth.

• Lanjanina Concession located in the south-central part of Madagascar approximately 180 kilometres ( 258 road km.) south of Antananarivo and covers an area of 156 km2 (15,600 hectares). Previous exploration identified copper, nickel and platinum group elements in geochemical soil samples and one drill hole located copper and nickel mineralization within pyroxenites and to a lesser extent gabbros and amphibolites.

Uranium

Geology

Uranium mineralization occurs in the sediments of the Morondava Basin of western Madagascar, which consists of Karoo Supergroup continental sediments.
Uranium in the Tranomaro Zone, in southern Madagascar, typically occurs as uranothorianite hosted in north-south trending lineaments of pyroxenite.

• Pan African Mining Corporation announced that it has been granted 36 additional research permits for uranium exploration in Madagascar. The permits were issued to the company’s subsidiary PAM Atomique Sarl (Pama), which is 20% owned by the Malagasy state. Pama’s uranium exploration programme is ongoing in the Antsirabe and Tranomaro Zones as part of the company’s joint venture (JV) with L’Office des Mines Nationales et des Industries Strategiques, a State agency. By virtue of the new permit grants, Pama’s overall uranium licences in Madagascar now number 46 research permits. The French Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique (CEA) exploited uranium from the regions of Folakara and Tranomaro during the period from the late 1930s through the 1950s, with systematic exploration of Madagascar for radioactive materials being undertaken to 1966 in detailed regional studies that outlined several uraniferous areas. In 1976, the newly created Omnis resumed exploration of the more promising CEA discoveries with technical advice and funding from the International Atomic Energy Agency and associated agencies. Pama is carrying forward such prior work as well as implementing innovative programmes conceived by its geological team working with Omnis.

• Cline Mining Corporation has taken over UMC Energy plc, who has an 80% interest in URAMAD S.A., a Madagascar uranium exploration company. URAMAD S.A. is a private Madagascar uranium exploration company in which the Madagascar Government Agency OMNIS also holds a 20% interest. The URAMAD Morondava Uranium Project covers an area of 9,993.75 square kilometers in the Morondava Basin of western Madagascar, which is filled with Karoo Supergroup sediments. The uranium properties were earlier held by Cogema of France which carried out extensive exploration work, with additional work being carried forward by the United Nations Development Programme and OMNIS. URAMAD has obtained the databases from this work which include an extensive earlier airborne survey (some 7,000 radioactive anomalies) and 83,000 metres of drilling in 790 drill holes with indicated uranium values and visible uranium mineralization. URAMAD is presently undertaking an exploration program on the property including diamond drilling and radiometric airborne surveys.

• Pencari Mining Corporation (TSX VENTURE:PMC) is exploring the Ambatofosy uranium property in central Madagascar. Positive uranium values from samples were obtained along the entire 3000 metre trend of uranium bearing pegmatite. A total of 135 soil samples were collected as part of the regional mapping program, with uranium values ranging from 10 to 780 ppm uranium returned from throughout the 3000 metre trend.
  Continuing geological mapping and trenching programmes across the Ambatofotsy prospect will run in conjunction with Pencari's regional trenching, geochemical and geophysics programmes currently underway across the Itea gold project.
  Uranium mineralization at Ambatofotsy is associated with an unusually large pegmatite complex. Mineralization of potential economic interest is reported to include betafite (a high uranium, columbium-tantalum mineral) and columbite-tantalite (columbium-tantalum minerals). Both minerals are important sources of tantalum, a high-tech metal used in electronics.
  The initial assessment at Ambatofosy was performed by OMNIS (Office Nationale des Mines et des Industries Strategiques), a Madagascar extra-governmental agency that aids the mineral exploration industry by performing geological services that include geological mapping, trenching and soil sampling.