Polymetallic Uranium Mineralisation in Rohil, Rajasthan, Western India: Insights from Mode of Occurrences, Structural Controls, Alteration Geochemistry and Exploration

Abstract

Geological and radiometric studies of outcrops aided by extensive subsurface exploration through drill holes in an otherwise soil-covered terrain revealed the existence of low grades, medium tonnage, and metasomatite types of polymetallic uranium deposits at Rohil in India. Microscopic studies, electronprobe micro analyses, and geochemical analyses of samples from lodes indicate the polymetallic nature of mineralisation involving copper and molybdenum, in addition to uranium. Wide variations in the composition of fluid (S-, F-, P-, and O-rich) led to the formation of sulphides, fluorite, U-phosphosilicate, quartz, and magnetite, respectively, and are associated with uraninite. Litho-geochemical analyses from the Rohil deposit indicate multifarious metasomatic alterations associated with polymetallic mineralisation occurring in veins. The major mineralogical and metasomatic controls on rock compositions and the extent of material transfer processes that influenced the host rocks and mineralisati on are quantified by molar element ratio studies and alteration plots. General element ratio (GER) diagrams on chemical analyses of rock samples reveal albitisation and chloritisation as major and microclinisation, sericitisation, carbonatisation, and silicification as minor wall rock alterations associated with ore mineralisation. The alteration box plot between the chlorite–carbonate–pyrite index (CCPI) and the Ishikawa alteration index (AI) indicates the influence of hydrothermal activity and dominance of both albitisation and chloritisation. The ore zone is controlled by meso- and microstructures and the geometry of the soda- and potash-metasomatised zone around hydrothermal veins. This zone contains several anastomosing mineralised veins defined by a prominent joint that is set in quartzite that strikes subparallel to the axial surface of the F2 isoclinal folds and the pervasive schistosity S1 in the quartz–feldspar–biotite schist. Aventurisation of albite and microcline, established through electron probe micro analyses, can be considered as a pathfinder for uranium mineralisation. The close association of uranium and metallic sulphide mineralisation with microstructural, mineralogical (albitisation, chloritisation, and microclinisation), and geochemical variations can be applied as suitable exploration guides in a similar geological set-up worldwide.