Occurrence and Industrial Properties of Some Barite Deposits in the Abakaliki Basin, Southeastern Nigeria

Abstract

This paper presents the field descriptions, measurements, and laboratory studies of outcropping facies of some barite deposits in the Abakaliki basin. The studies were carried out to evaluate and highlight the economic significance of the remote barite fields. The deposits show three different structural modes of occurrence as disseminated nodules, stratigraphic, and vein confined ore bodies. These modes of occurrences relative to the host rocks make the ore deposits amenable to vertical stripping using open pit method. The barite ores exhibit variable grades, as evidenced by the wide variations in their geotechnical properties (specific gravity: 3.1–4.5; porosity: 0.1–0.5%; water absorption capacity: 2–12%; and uniaxial compressive strength: 11 and 43 N/mm2) and geochemical characteristics (BaO: 37.23–97.54%; Fe2O3: 1.06–37.98%; CaO: 0.01–1.09%; SrO: 0.11–2.17%; Hg: 0.01–0.019 ppm, and Cd: 0.042–0.1 ppm). The variability of these properties is predicated on depth of occurrence and presence/absence or amount of ore associated minerals.