On the occurrence of gold mineralization in the Pala Neoproterozoic formations, South-Western Chad

Abstract

International audienceThe Pala region, in southwestern Chad, belongs to the northern part of the Central African Pan-African Fold Belt. It is made up of greenschist-facies schists and is characterized by bimodal, mainly mafic, magmatism. This schist unit named Goueigoudoum Series is intruded by pre- to post-tectonic plutonic rocks dated between 737 and 570 Ma and dykes of quartz. Gold is mined artisanally from alluvial deposits and primary chalcopyrite-pyrite-bearing quartz veins, brecciated and silicified zones and shear zones. The majority of the mineralized shear zones and some quartz veins generally trend N-S to NNE-SSW or NW-SE and are interpreted as extensional shear fractures related to regional NE-SW-trending sinistral strike-slip shear zones. The geological context of the Pala region clearly indicates hydrothermal fluids formed along active continental margins during collisional orogenesis, and subsequent associated fluid migration typically occurred during strike-slip events. Although the origin of fluids may be varied (magmatic, metamorphic or meteoric fluids, Proterozoic seawater, or sedimentary basin formation waters), the distribution of the mineralizations along the granitoid intrusions suggests that magmatism played a major role in the dynamics of the mineralizing fluids

Mineral chemistry, bulk rock geochemistry, and S‐isotope signature of lode‐gold mineralization in the Bétaré Oya gold district, south‐east Cameroon

“…This follows the general shear trend in the eastern region of Cameroon (Fon et al, ; Suh et al, ). A similar mineralization style is reported in the Pala region of south‐western Chad (Tchameni, Doumnang, Deudibaye, & Branquet, ). Structurally controlled gold–quartz vein mineralization similar to the Bétaré Oya gold–quartz veins is described in the Seridó Mobile Belt (SMB; Neto et al, ), although in the SMB, the skarn‐related nature of the mineralization is more distinct.…”

Mapping Hydrothermal Alteration Targets from Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS and Magnetic Data Using Digital Image Processing Techniques in Garoua, North Cameroon

“…Besides, the fault trending from Badioukri to Tchollire localities correlates well with the renowned Tchollire Shear zone (TSZ) separating the Adamawa-Yadé domain in the east from the North Western Cameroon domain in the west [13]. Moreover, The TSZ is well-known for hosting Gold-bearing minerals notably in Gamba, Tcholliré, Mayo Rey, Landou, and Poyémé, Mbé localities [29]. Hence, the structures discriminated based on the amplitude thresholding (0.0001 nT/m) could be of significant economic importance.…”

“…Thus, a hydrothermal alteration map ( Figure 11), illustrating the potential targets of mineral exploration within the study area, was obtained. Besides, Gold indices [18,29], and Uranium prospects [11] were superimposed on this map in order to correlate results with known mineral prospects.…”

Gold grade variation and particle microchemistry in exploration pits of the Batouri gold district, SE Cameroon

“…This belt underlies Cameroon, Chad and the Central African Republic, between the Congo Craton to the south and the Western Nigeria shield to the north Van Schmus et al, 2008). This mobile domain corresponds to the mobile belt of Central Africa consisting of an amalgamation of Precambrian terrains (Castaing et al, 1994;Black and Liegeois, 1993;Ferr e et al, 1996Ferr e et al, , 2002Tchameni et al, 2013) that show a long and complex crustal evolution with a strong overprint of Neoproterozoic events. The most striking feature of this evolution is the presence of crustal scale-strike slip shear zones (Fig.…”