Geochemical Assessment for Gold in Sediments of Gora River in Minna Area, North-central Nigeria

Abstract

Investigation was carried out on sediments of River Gora to geochemically assess for gold and its origin. The study area is situated in Minna in the North-Central geo-political zone of Nigeria. The area is constrained within latitude 9 0 33 ' N and 9 0 35'N and longitude 6 0 34'E and 6 0 35 ' E. Major and trace elements were analyzed using X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry method. To decipher the factors responsible for the elemental association with gold, factor analysis, principal component analysis and cluster analysis were performed. The result revealed two main clusters of variables classified into three groups, namely: cluster 1, cluster 2(a) and cluster 2(b). Cluster 1 is made up of Ba and Sr, while cluster 2(a) consists of Rb, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ba and cluster 2(b) contains As,

Assessment of levels of contamination and estimation of ecological risk by potentially toxic elements in Chanchaga River of Minna, Nigeria

“…This interpretation, is in part, further corroborated by the very strong positive correlation (r = 0.97) found between Nb and Zr (Table 2), and a very low mean Rb/Sr ratio of about 0.34 obtained from available data. Similar scenarios have already been reported, particularly with respect to Zr concentration in sediments and soils from other parts of Nigeria (Lapworth et al, 2012;Waziri, 2013, Obaje, 2014. Overall, the concentration of four selected potential toxic elements in these sediments decrease in the order Pb>Zn>Cu>Cr, indicating a probable anthropogenic input of lead into the streams from municipal activities (Hossain, 2022).…”

“…A follow up work by Key et al (2012) in this area was aimed at unravelling the high zirconium concentrations in sediments. Obaje et al (2014) studied the environmental geochemistry of River Gora (Chanchaga River) sediments in Minna using statistical methods and pollution indices and recommended further studies to investigate the possibility of more pollution risks in the area. More recent works in the greater Minna area (Akpotu and Alabi, 2022;Amoo and Alabi, 2021) focused on the search for new mineral deposits.…”