Petrographic and Geochemical Characters of Granites of the Banfora Belt, Burkina Faso (West Africa)

The Banfora’s birimian greenstones belt is located in the western part of Burkina Faso (west Africa). Recent petrographic and lithogeochemical studies have highlighted plutons intruding the metasedimentary and metavolcanic series. These plutonic rocks are composed of leucogranites belonging to the so-called Ferkessedougou’s or Ferké’s batholith, granites, granodiorites, monzodiorites and quartz monzonites. From the lithogeochemical studies, these plutonic rocks have a calc-alkaline and peraluminous character. The rare earth elements spectra of the Ferké’s leucogranites let distinguished two sub-facies. One of the sub-facies is composed of quartz monzonite to granite, while the other is granitic sensu stricto. However, all these plutonic rocks were emplaced in a geodynamic context of subduction followed by collision.

Implication of Paleoproterozoic Basalt Fertility Related to Mantle Plume Activity in Nassara Gold Mineralization (Burkina Faso, West Africa)

The Birimian Nassara volcanic formations are located south of Gaoua in the southern part of the Boromo belt. Within these formations is the Nassara gold deposit where mineralization is hosted at the contact between basaltic volcanic rocks and sedimentary rocks. It is with the aim of understanding the geodynamic context of the basaltic rocks and the implication of their primary gold potential in the Nassara gold deposit that this work is carried out. To achieve our objectives, 28 samples of fresh basaltic rocks were geochemically analyzed for their major and trace element compositions. These analyses show that the Nassara basalts are Fe-rich tholeiitic basalts. Rare earth profiles (La/SmN = 0.75 - 1.50;La/YbN = 0.65 - 2.18) are fairly flat and without europium anomaly (Eu/Eu* = 0.90 - 1.09), nor niobium. In the Zr/Nb vs. Nb/Th and Nb/Y vs. Zr/Y binary diagrams, the Fe-rich tholeiitic basalts of Nassara, as well as those of the Houndé and Boromo belts, are placed in the field of oceanic plateau basalts related to a mantle plume system. A gold fertility test carried out on these basalts was positive. As other studies have already shown, the genetic link between gold deposits and mantle plumes appears to be a general rule. The scenario for the Nassara gold deposit is that it is the source magma that was already more or less enriched in gold and other related elements on its way up. The remobilization of this gold would have occurred during the Eburnean orogeny with the help of metamorphic, hydrothermal and deformation phenomena to be redeposited at the level of shear zones with economic grades. Through this analysis, we show that the fertility of the initial lithologies is very important for the formation of economic size deposits in the proximal shear zones. Exploration work should now integrate this dimension to define the best targets.

Geochemical Mobility Associated to Gold and Base Metal Occurrences of Mangodara Sector, in Southern Burkina Faso, Banfora Greenstone Belts (West African Craton)

In the Mangodara area within the Banfora greenstone belts (Baoulé-Mossi domain of the West African Craton), our study focused on geochemical assessment of the mobility of major and trace elements. Gold and base metal occurrences are hosted in highly metamorphic felsic (metarhyolite) and intermediate (metadacite and metaandesite) formations. Common mineral assemblages made up of staurolite - kyanite - pyrophyllite are interpreted to represent the metamorphosed equivalent of aluminous hydrothermal alteration. Associated felsic and intermediate volcanic rocks are enriched in Fe2O3, K2O (metaandesite, metarhyolite) and depleted in MgO, Al2O3, CaO, P2O5, Na2O (metarhyolite) and Fe2O3, MgO, CaO (metaandesite). Al2O3 depletion in mineralized kyanite-staurotide bearing metarhyolites suggests corroded minerals. Mineralized metarhyolites show enrichment in Au, Ag, Ba, Bi, Cr, Cu, Eu, La, Mo, Ni, Pb, S, Sc, V and depletion in As Sb Co, Sn, Zn while mineralized metaandesites show enrichment in Au, Ag, As, Mo, S, Sb and depletion in Co, Sn, Zn, Bi, Cr, Cu, Eu, Ni, Pb, Sc. Ba, La, V are immobile in metaandesites. Finally, Ag, As, Sn appear as geochemical vectors for gold exploration in the study area since gold mineralization is characterized by Au + Ba + Cu + Eu + La + Mo + Ni + S association in metarhyolites and Au + S + Sb + As + Ag + Bi in metaandesites.

Alteration Typology and Geochemical Signatures of the Napélépéra Gold-Bearing Granodiorite in South-West Burkina Faso (West Africa)

The characterization of the relationships between mineralization and hydrothermal alteration is an essential element in understanding gold deposits. In south-west Burkina Faso, the Napélépéra mineralisation, the mobility of chemical elements and alteration-mineralization relationships were studied by means of selected core drilling and geochemical analyses using ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) and ICP-AES (Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy). The mineralised granodiorite is grey porphyroid with quartz, plagioclase, biotite and amphibole. It is metaluminous and located in the tholeiitic series. The Na2O + CaO versus Fe2O3 + MgO alteration diagram divides the samples according to alteration dominance. Chloritisation and carbonation are the main alterations. There is a relationship between gold mineralisation at Napélépéra and alteration, and the paragenesis of gold + pyrite ± carbonate ± silica ± sericite is the main characteristic. Carbonation is the result of fluid input in the shear corridor of the mineralised zone. The mass balance of comparative metals in the proximal and distal zones of the mineralisation shows the absence of metals, while As, Hg, Ag and Bi are strongly enriched from the distal zone to the mineralised zone. The oxides associated with the mineralisation are mainly NaO, SrO and CaO.