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Op-Ed highlights Ethiopia’s potential for SEDEX lead-zinc-copper deposits
The piece says SEDEX systems form when metal-bearing fluids, heat, and a chemical trap coincide, pointing to dense evaporite brines in Ethiopia’s Afar Depression as a key ingredient.
Mining.com published an op-ed arguing that Ethiopia could be part of Africa’s next major basin for sediment-hosted lead, zinc, and copper mineralization tied to SEDEX deposits.
The author describes SEDEX systems as requiring a supply of metals, deep salty fluids, a heat source, and a chemical trap where metals precipitate into large concentrations, noting examples outside Ethiopia such as Navan and Red Dog.
The op-ed further connects the Horn of Africa’s mineral potential to evaporitic environments, saying such settings can produce dense saline brines that transport metals through kilometers of crust before encountering the conditions needed for concentration.
It frames Ethiopia’s tectonic setting as supporting those ingredients, but emphasizes that the formation recipe, rather than any specific location, is what matters for producing “extraordinary deposits.”
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