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Fanus Viljoen

Prof Fanus Viljoen

DST Research Chair in GeoMetallurgy
Name: Fanus Viljoen
Location: C1 Lab 414 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Department of Geology Staff  Staff Members

Contact Details:
Tel: +27 (0)11 559 4710

Email: fanusv@uj.ac.za

About Prof Fanus Viljoen

Professor Fanus Viljoen holds an MSc from the University of Cape Town and a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand, both in Geochemistry. Having been involved in the study of kimberlites, diamonds and mantle xenoliths for much of his career while employed in Industry, he joined the University of Johannesburg in 2008 to take up the DSI/NRF Research Chair in Geometallurgy. Geometallurgy is a rapidly evolving field of interdisciplinary research that bridges the gap between the geosciences, minerals research, metallurgy and the mining and exploration industry. The primary thrust of the Research Chair is to develop and apply geometallurgical methods to quantify the mineralogical and textural characteristics of ore bodies, ores, concentrates and successor products in resource types relevant to the South African minerals industry. Professor Viljoen is the author and co-author of 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as numerous congress proceedings abstracts. He has also successfully supervised and co-supervised 23 MSc and 9 PhD students.

Research Interests

Diamonds and their Mineral Inclusions; Mantle Petrology; Petrology and Volcanology of Kimberlites and Lamproites; Geometallurgy

Teaching responsibilities

1. Honours: Environmental and Applied Mineralogy
2. Honours: Economic Geology
3. Undergraduate: First Year Analytical Mineralogy

Recent Publications
  • Shaikh AM, Tappe S, Viljoen F, de Wit MCJ (2024) The elusive Congo Craton margin during Gondwana breakup: Insights from lithospheric mantle structure and heat flow beneath the Xaudum kimberlite province, NW Botswana. Journal of Petrology 65(2) : 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egae002
  • Motloba GB, Viljoen KS, Rose DH, Smith AJB (2024) The processing behaviour of the sphalerites from the Big Syncline deposit, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 127(1) : 71-94. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.127.0018
  • Pattnaik J, Ashutosh A, Janaarthanan PA, Viljoen F, Srivastava RK, Ueckermann H (2024) Arc-related Alaskan type magmatism: evidence from pyroxenites associated with the Pakkanadu alkaline-ultramafic complex, Southern India. Frontiers in Earth Science 12:1253632. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2024.1253632
  • Netshidzivhe T, Tappe S, Wilson AH, Ishikawa A, Viljoen F (2023) The Paleoarchean Buffalo River komatiites: Progressive melting of a single large mantle plume beneath the growing Kaapvaal craton. Precambrian Research 393, article 107071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2023.107071
  • Shaikh AM, Bussweiler Y, Viljoen F, Bolhar B, Ravi S, Hezel DC, Ueckermann H, Tappe S (2023) Redox state of the Dharwar craton root as inferred from eclogite and peridotite sourced mantle cargo, with implications for kimberlite and lamproite magma formation. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 178(12), article 86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00410-023-02072-2
  • Dzvinamurungu T, Rose DH, Chimwani N, Viljoen F (2022) Using process mineralogy as a tool to investigate blending potential of the pentlandite-bearing ores at the Nkomati Ni Mine in South Africa. Minerals, 12(5), 649. https://doi.org/10.3390/min12050649
  • Zhang Q, Morel MLA, Liu J, Legros H, Luguet A, Viljoen KS, Davies GR, Pearson DG (2022) Re-healing cratonic mantle lithosphere after the world’s largest igneous intrusion: Constraints from peridotites erupted by the Premier kimberlite, South Africa. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 598, article 117838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117838
  • Dongre A, Viljoen KS, Belyanin G, Le Roux P, Malandkar M (2020) Petrogenesis of the diamondiferous Pipe-8 ultramafic intrusion from the Wajrakarur kimberlite field of Southern India and its relation to the worldwide Mesoproterozoic (~1.1 Ga) magmatism of kimberlite and related rocks. Geoscience Frontiers 11: 793-805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2019.07.010
  • Shaikh A, Bussweiler Y, Tappe S, Patel S, Ravi S, Bolhar R, Viljoen KS (2020) Clinopyroxene and garnet mantle cargo in kimberlites as probes of Dharwar craton architecture and geotherms, with implications for post-1.1 Ga lithosphere thinning events beneath southern India. Journal of Petrology 61(9), September: egaa087. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egaa087
  • Mkhatshwa SF, Guy BM, Smith AJB, Viljoen KS (2020) A mineralogical perspective on the recovery of uranium from brannerite-rich ore at Cooke Section, West Rand Goldfield, South Africa. South African Journal of Geology 123.4: 615-632. https://doi.org/10.25131/sajg.123.0031
  • Dzvinamurungu T, Rose DH, Viljoen KS, Mulaba-Bafubiandi FM (2020) A process mineralogical evaluation of chromite at the Nkomati nickel mine, Uitkomst Complex, South Africa. Minerals 10, article 709. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/min10080709
  • Aulbach S, Viljoen KS, Gerdes A (2020) Diamondiferous and barren eclogites and pyroxenites from the western Kaapvaal craton record subduction processes and mantle metasomatism, respectively. Lithos 368-369, article 105588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2020.105588
  • Aulbach S, Massuyeau M, Garber JM, Gerdes A, Heaman LM, Viljoen KS (2020) Ultramafic carbonated melt- and auto-metasomatism in mantle eclogite: Compositional effects and geophysical consequences. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 21, article e2019GC008774. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GC008774
  • Ballouard, C., Massuyeau, M., Elburg, M.A., Tappe, S., Viljoen, K., Brandenburg, J.-T. (2020). The magmatic and magmatic-hydrothermal evolution of felsic igneous rocks as seen through Nb-Ta geochemical fractionation, with implications for the origins of rare-metal mineralization. Earth-Science Reviews, 103115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103115