Abstract
This paper provides chemical and mineralogical studies on Gold-bearing rock ore. The samples used was sourced from Iperindo at Ilesha Local Government Area of Osun state, Nigeria. 500g of the ore was weighed using digital weighing balance. The samples were crushed and ground until 80% passing of 75 μm sieve. The ground ore was blended homogeneously before the analysis while for the ore microscopic study, true fraction representative gold-bearing rock samples were prepared as polished mounts and characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope–Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX). X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) was used to determine the chemical composition while identification of the associate mineral phase was done using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) technique. From the optical microscopy and SEM/EDX study, the gold grain was found embedded in the quartz and spotted interlocked in feldspar within a microscopic size level while a fracture type of surface morphology was observed which shows a protuberant quartz-feldspar veins texture. XRD shows the mineral phases of quartz, dolomite, sylvite, annite. The traces of K, Ba and Rb, in this compound shows that the ore is a typical mesothermal gold deposit. Hence, the gold is finely disseminated on the silicate mineral and this characteristic is unsuitable to be processed by physical separation as the microscopic gold will tend to be lost during processing. However, a sustainable processing method such as froth flotation can be proposed to overcome this problem.
Highlights
It has been observed that the gross domestic products of many countries of the world are directly related to the quantum of metal products produced or consumed by those nations
There are over 44 economic minerals that has been reported in Nigeria including gold ores which is predominant found in three regions, for convenience, classified as Zamfara-Malenjo in Zamafara state, Lapai- Birnin Gwari in Kaduna state and Ife-Ilesha area in Osun state
The process design of the gold bearing-rock in Iperindo will ensure sustainable solid mineral development which entails exploration, exploitation, processing, extraction and utilization of the depletable resources can be achieve if the appropriate technique to be adopted for processing the mineral deposit which depend on the mineralogy of the deposit, grade of ore, nature and Adetula Yomi Vincent et al.: Chemical and Mineralogical Studies of Gold-bearing Rock in Iperindo, Ilesha Goldfield, Southwest Nigeria concentration of the impurities associated with the ore is known [3]
Summary
It has been observed that the gross domestic products of many countries of the world are directly related to the quantum of metal products produced or consumed by those nations. Industrial raw materials are either mining or agricultural products; the former is depletable while the latter is replenishable It behooves any nation to judiciously explore, exploit, process, extract and utilize her solid mineral resources. The use of optical and electron microscopy are employed in the micron and submicron level investigation of different gold ores or materials having gold and other elements contained in them [5,6,7,8,9] This experiment applies SEM-EDX because scanning electron microscopy reveals texture that cannot be observed by optical microscopy [10]. The current diversification plan of the Nigerian economy to agriculture and solid minerals calls for preliminary investigations and study of the different minerals whose deposits have been proven in the country; this paper focus on the chemical and mineralogical characterization of the gold-bearing rock form as it is compulsory before the gold deposit is brought to the beneficiation process. With a better understanding on the mineralogy of the gold, this would effectively minimize the cost of gold processing
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