Identifying Pathfinder Elements for Gold in Multi-Element Soil Geochemical Data from the Wa-Lawra Belt, Northwest Ghana: A Multivariate Statistical Approach

Abstract

A multivariate statistical analysis was performed on multi-element soil geochemical data from the Koda Hill-Bulenga gold prospects in the Wa-Lawra gold belt, northwest Ghana. The objectives of the study were to define gold relationships with other trace elements to determine possible pathfinder elements for gold from the soil geochemical data. The study focused on seven elements, namely, Au, Fe, Pb, Mn, Ag, As and Cu. Factor analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis were performed on the analyzed samples. Factor analysis explained 79.093% of the total variance of the data through three factors. This had the gold factor being factor 3, having associations of copper, iron, lead and manganese and accounting for 20.903% of the total variance. From hierarchical clustering, gold was also observed to be clustering with lead, copper, arsenic and silver. There was further indication that, gold concentrations were lower than that of its associations. It can be inferred from the results that, the occurrence of gold and its associated elements can be linked to both primary dispersion from underlying rocks and secondary processes such as lateritization. This data shows that Fe and Mn strongly associated with gold, and alongside Pb, Ag, As and Cu, these elements can be used as pathfinders for gold in the area, with ferruginous zones as targets

Portable Spectroscopy

“…As noted above, the time saved in not having to send samples back to a laboratory is extremely valuable, and portable instruments enable informed decision-making on the spot. 90 This area includes precious metals (e.g., gold) and precious metal ''pathfinder'' elements (e.g., mercury, arsenic, bismuth), 91 grade control in mining production, industrial minerals (e.g., limestone, dolomite, bauxite), mud logging, and oil and shale analysis in energy exploration. These instruments now incorporate GPS (global positioning satellite) capability and results are logged with the sample's GPS coordinates, so that geological maps are easily constructed.…”

Elucidating Pathfinding Elements from the Kubi Gold Mine in Ghana

“…Bayari et al [46] used X-ray florescence spectroscopy, XRD, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to identify pathfinder elements and their associated pathfinder minerals in the mineralized regolith profiles at the Bole-Nangoli gold belt in north-eastern Ghana. Moreover, Nude et al [47] used a multivariate statistical approach to identify pathfinder elements for gold from the north-west of Ghana. In both cases, the trace elements such as Fe, Mn, Ag, As, Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb, etc., were identified and appeared to be associated with Au and suitable as pathfinder elements of Au in the study areas.…”

Mobile Forms of Gold and Pathfinder Elements in Surface Sediments at the Novye Peski Gold Deposit and in the Piilola Prospecting Area (Karelia Region)

“…In consequence of the high cost of low-concentration analysis, prospecting is often based on the use of elements associated with gold mineralization in primary haloes, such as Te, Bi, As, Ag, Cu, Sb, etc. [2][3][4][5][6]. However, these elements, forming anomalies in a secondary halo while weathering gold-bearing ore, no longer have a close positive correlation compared to it in the primary halo and sometimes this correlation is lost completely in a large-scale geochemical survey.…”