Abstract
Airborne magnetic and radiometric datasets are used to interpret the geology and geological structural patterns which serve as potential gold mineralization zones in the Kyerano area located at south-western boundary of the prospective Sefwi Gold Belt and the Kumasi Basin in south-western Ghana. The geophysical data processing approach adopted concentrated on mapping geological boundaries, geological structures and possible gold mineralization zones is link to hydrothermally altered zones. The application of the enhancement filtering algorithms such as the reduction to the pole and analytic signal to the magnetic data, as well as the ternary radiometric image aided in the mapping of the mafic metavolcanics, basin metasediments and the belt-type granitoid complexes. The first vertical derivative and tilt angle derivative filters helped to delineate fractures, folds, and the contact zones of the formations such as that of the metavolcanics-metasediments that host the main Bibiani Shear Zone. Lineament analysis of the structures using rose diagram, reveals two main tectonic episodes in the area. These are NE-SW and NNW-SSE trending regional structures which account for about 90% of the extracted structures and are associated with the D1 and D2 deformational episodes of the Birimian Formation respectively. These structures are major fracture systems and play a pivotal role in the localization of gold mineralization in the study area.
Highlights
The mining industry contributes largely to the economy of Ghana, with the country benefitting substantially from “the 10-year gold bull market” [1]
Magnetic surveys are based on the observations of the ambient magnetic susceptibility and use this data to determine the distribution of magnetic minerals and changes in lithology
The contact zone between the metavolcanics (MV) and metasediments (MS) which hosts the main Bibiani Shear Zone and a very prominent splay fault [15] displays extensive faulting such as F1 - F1, F2 - F2, F3 - F3, F4 - F4 (Figure 6 and Figure 8) and shearing
Summary
The mining industry contributes largely to the economy of Ghana, with the country benefitting substantially from “the 10-year gold bull market” [1]. Small-scale miners are primarily self-employed indigenous youth, with little financial backing and limited mining expertise and are in the practice of discreetly gathering minerals found either at or just below the soil surface and selling them in contravention of state laws [5] The activities of these people lead to the contamination of the top soil and have the further consequential effect of rendering the application of the traditional exploration methods mainly, stream and soil geochemistry ineffective. Airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys have been used extensively in the mineral exploration industry predominantly for the delineation of mineralization zones and metalliferous deposits in most parts of the world and as secondary tool in gold exploration Ghana [6]-[8]1 The successes of these methods are derived from the unique signatures that are produced by the mineralization zones making it possible to distinguish them from the host rocks. In the magnetic and radiometric survey, the quantity of magnetic minerals appears to be the primary variable determining magnetic-field variations (measured as magnetic susceptibility) whereas the gamma ray responds from the radioelements (K, U and Th) in the rocks can be related to the distribution of regolith materials in Kyerano respectively
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