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The Mibladen Mining Complex

The  mining district of  Mibladen is located 15 km from Midelt in the Central Marocco. Midelt, the main town,  may be considered today as the mineral  capital of Marocco for the high concentration of mineral dealers or in general mineral traders.After the mine closure in the 70's a lot of miners come today from different areas of Marocco to dig in the ACF area mine hoping for a  striking  Vanadinite find and related gains. Reality is different and just few of them  hardly working on daily base may meet the occasion of life opening a big vanadinite vug. Work is hard both in the winter time for the cold climate and in summer time when temperatures up to 35°-40° celsius   may be reached. Prospecting is carried out mainly by manual work. Local authorities allows this private prospecting and the ACF mine area today looks like a "mineralogical woodstoock" camp. 

  The old  mine more or less follows the road from north-west  of Midelt. Taking the Mibladen mine from Midelt  you pass a series of very old mine dumps of the Mibladen Mine complex until you reach after 15 km the old mining village of Mibladen. At the time of operation the mine employeed more than 300 workers. Mine was active for lead until the 70's.  After that date collecting was carried out by old miners on private scale along the most promising areas of the old mine.  The area is interesting scenically; it's very dry, fairly high, there are mountains nearby (middle Atlas range) and very nice scenery may be observed during sunrises and sunsets.

Geology

Lead mineralisation in Mibladen mines occurs in a rhyolite matrix heavily faulted and brecciated. The mine has been exploited in the past until its closure (1976) mostly for lead. Galena was the main ore. Most of the galena was capped with either Anglesite or Cerussite. The main mineral occurs in seams of a half inch thick but also disseminated in the rhyolite matrix. Baryte is also a very common gangue. Oxidation zone of the mine is quite spread. Barite and Cerussite is the most common combination then you may find barite and vanadinite. 

Collecting

Self- Collecting in Mibladen  area is possible only on very old dumps. The old pit is very dangerous but in theory  access to old galleries is still  possible. Nowadays most of the collecting  is concentrated in the ACF area (close to the old pit). Mineral collecting is carried out by thousands of local people digging vertival holes  8-10 deep and then following barite veins in horizontal tunnels until a mineralised vug occurs. Good finds are very sporadic but during the last years some remarkable vugs have been opened (such that of December 2000 that produced several hundreds of remarkable Vanadinite specimens displayed in the most famous worldwide shows). Today to find good specimens in the Mibladen Midelt area is still possible but you need time (.....a lot of time) and patience. People wait the visitors to the entrance of the mine village or in Mibladen. They invite you to come to their houses to see specimens as well as to share coscous with them and the the ritual of mint tea ("the whisky Berber" as they call it). One must be very patient. The lots which we were offered in the beginning were not very interesting but, by staying in the village several days, the miners start to  build enough confidence in you to offer finer and finer pieces in their own homes. Little by little all of the miners and traders  become aware of your presence and the quality of the specimens offered increase progressively. We stayed in Mibladen three days always enjoining  the lovely and marvelous hospitality of the Berbers. It was toward the end of our stay that we purchase some really interesting pieces, beautiful red vanadinites well crystallised with interesting parallel and skeleton growths, cerussite on barite etc..

From Mibladen we went to visit the abandoned mine of Aouli. Road was difficult in some places crossing  the ouadis but finally we reached the old Aouli mine. It was a vein type deposit with galena dominating. Malachite, Azurite, Native Silver, Fluorite and tourmaline also occured. The mine is located in a nice scenery inside a deep canyon excavated by  the Aouli Ouadi. At the time of operations the mine produced 28.000 tons of lead and 12.000 tons of zinc and emlpoys about 350-400 workers.

                                                                                        Main Mibladen  Alteration Minerals

Vanadinite - It is the most famous secondary mineral of Mibladen mine and the occurrence it is for sure the best   of the world. Vanadinites occur in an infinite variety of color and form ranging all the way from almost black through the browns and dark browns to the red, lighter red and yellow orange. The largest xls may reach 4 to 5 cm but common size of xls is of 1-2 cm. Sometime as in the recent find a deep red color may be observed. very aestehetic specimens

Cerussite - It is a common alteration mineral in the Mibladen Mining complex. Sharp and lustrous Xls up to 8-10 cm have been observed. Typical association is with pink barite or yellow  wulfenite.   Quality of cerussite xls never reach that of Toussuit but remarkable specimens have been recovered by Mibladen

Barite -  It is the most widespread gangue mineral of Mibladen mineralised orebody. Nice and aesthetyc xls of baryte are found in several areas of the mine. Barites oocur in a wide variety of colors. White bladed barite covered with up to an inch and more of bright  red or orange xls of vanadinite are the most classic and beautiful combination you may find. Sometime barite is covered with  a black goethite coating  

Wulfenite - Wulfenite is sont very common in Mibladen. Xls are mainly yellow or deep yellow in color of bypiramidal type. Xls are generally very small (max  1,5-2  cm in size) . Sometime reddish xls may be observed

Anglesite  - Anglesite is a quite common alteration mineral in Mibladen area  but unfortunately it never crystallised in a decent shape. Most of the time anglesite specimens show like microxx crusts on barite and rhyolite.