African Kimberlites: Introduction

Abstract

With more than 3000 known bodies, the African plate can be considered worldwide as the dominant type locality of kimberlites. Among them, about 2500 are concentrated in southern (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe) and central Africa (Angola and Zaire). The remaining are distributed in eastern (Kenya and Tanzania) and western Africa (Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali and Sierra Leone). In these areas, the kimberlite intrusions are generally associated with the Kalahari, Congo, Tanzania and West African cratons; they occur less often in the surrounding mobile belts (Fig. 1).