Physico-thermal and geochemical behavior and alteration of the Au indicator gangue hydrothermal quartz at the Kubi Gold ore depositsVisa övriga samt affilieringar
2024 (Engelska)Ingår i: Journal of African Earth Sciences, ISSN 1464-343X, E-ISSN 1879-1956, Vol. 220, artikel-id 105439Artikel i tidskrift (Refereegranskat) Published
Abstract [en]
Altered and gangue quartz in hydrothermal veins from the Kubi Gold deposit in Dunkwa on Offin in the central region of Ghana are investigated for possible Au-associated indicator minerals and to provide the understanding and increase the knowledge of the mineral hosting and alteration processes in quartz. X-ray diffraction, air annealing furnace, differential scanning calorimetry, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy have been applied on different quartz types outcropping from surface and bedrocks at the Kubi Gold Mining to reveal the material properties at different temperatures. From the diffraction results of the fresh and annealed quartz samples, we find that the samples contain indicator and the impurity minerals iron disulfide, biotite, titanium oxide, and magnetite. These minerals, under oxidation process between 574 and 1400 °C temperatures experienced hematite alterations and a transformation from α-quartz to β-quartz and further to cristobalite as observed from the calorimetry scans for hydrothermally exposed materials. The energy dispersive spectroscopy revealed elemental components of Fe, S, Mg, K, Al, Ti, Na, Si, O, and Ca contained in the samples, and these are attributed to the impurity phase minerals observed in the diffraction. The findings also suggest that during the hydrothermal flow regime, impurity minerals and metals can be trapped by voids and faults. Under favorable temperature conditions, the trapped minerals can be altered to change color at different depositional stages by oxidation and reduction processes leading to hematite alteration which is a useful indicator minerals in mineral exploration.
Ort, förlag, år, upplaga, sidor
Elsevier BV , 2024. Vol. 220, artikel-id 105439
Nyckelord [en]
Quartz; Hydrothermal; Indicator minerals; Hematite; X-ray diffraction; Crystal structure; Defects
Nationell ämneskategori
Geologi
Identifikatorer
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-208386DOI: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2024.105439ISI: 001332967800001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-208386DiVA, id: diva2:1904780
Forskningsfinansiär
Carl Tryggers stiftelse för vetenskaplig forskning VetenskapsrådetEnergimyndigheten
Anmärkning
Funding Agencies|Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Ma-terials Science on Functional Materials at Linköping University [2009 00971]; Swedish Energy Research [43606-1]; Carl Tryggers Foundation [CTS23:2746, CTS20:272, CTS16:303, CTS14:310]
2024-10-102024-10-102024-10-30