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Relationship between gold and manganese mineralizations in the Birimian of Ghana, West Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Y. Ntiamoah-Agyakwa
Y. Ntiamoah-Agyakwa
Affiliation:
Institute of Mining and Mineral Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
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Summary

Studies on the distribution of manganese-bearing rocks in the Birimian and their relationship with gold mineralization are still in progress. Both manganese and gold occur as stratabound lenses within volcano-sedimentary sequence. Evidence of pre- and post-tectonic mineralizations are present. Sedimentological evidence also suggests both may have been contemporaneous with their host rocks in an environment that was strongly Eh and pH controlled. Under present tropical conditions, other elements associated with Birimian gold mineralization, notably copper and arsenic, are highly mobile to remain in residual soils. However, manganese, like iron, remains in residual soils as oxides and could be a useful pathfinder element in the search for gold in tropical lateritic soils derived from Precambrian greenstones.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 116 , Issue 5 , September 1979 , pp. 345 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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