The mafic-ultramafic Chimbadzi Hill intrusion in the NW of the Zimbabwe craton is a dyke with inward-dipping margins comprising magnetite peridotite, troctolite and magnetite melatroctolite. The magnetite peridotite is composed of about equal amounts of V- and Ti-bearing magnetite and olivine (∼Fo 60). The troctolite is composed of about 50% olivine (∼Fo 50-54), 40% plagioclase (An 53-58), 7% clinopyroxene and minor apatite and magnetite with ilmenite lamellae. Geochemical trends suggest that the Chimbadzi Hill Intrusion formed by fractional crystallisation from a single initial magma. However, the more primitive magnetite peridotite overlies the more evolved troctolite in the intrusion. This 'apparent' inverted stratigraphy may be due to emptying of a fractionated magma chamber from the top, or to floor subsidence during intrusion. U-Pb dating on baddeleyite reveals that the age of the Chimbadzi Hill Intrusion is 2262 ± 2 Ma. This age does not correspond to any known tectono-thermal event in the Zimbabwe Craton or adjacent metamorphic belts. It is ∼300 Ma younger than the late Archean Great Dyke, and ∼230 Ma older than other Paleoproterozoic events in and around the craton. Therefore, it may represent a so far undocumented very early Proterozoic igneous event in the Zimbabwe Craton. The intrusion represents a vanadium resource for Zimbabwe, with titanium potentially being mined as by-product.
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