User:Atrenatuursteen/sandbox

Nero Impala
Platinum, chromium and other valuable metals come from the Bushveld rocks around Rustenburg (South Africa), and so does this dark robust stone.

Nero Impala is quarried in the area of Bosspruit and Brits near the South African town of Rustenburg. It is also traded as Nero Africa or Impala Rustenburg.

The stone was exported to Europe before World War II but postwar times saw a massive growth in its use. A very similar but slightly coarser-grained stone has been traded as Bon Accord after the town of that name just north of Pretoria.

These are gabbroic rocks, sold as granite, that come from the largest and most economically important igneous intrusion in the world - the Bushveld Igneous Complex. The magma was intruded some two billion years ago, and as it cooled, heavier metals settled out into distinct layers that today form very rich ore bodies. They supply most of the worlds chromium, platinum and other precious elements as well as large quantities of vanadium, iron, tin, and other metals. The center of the Bushveld Complex is buried by volcanic rocks and granites, but Nero Impala and Bon Accord lie on the southwestern fringes, where precious metals and decorative stones are extracted.