Mapping and Analysis of Stream Sediment Heavy Mineral Fractions for Mineral Exploration: A Case Study of a Portion of North-Central Nigeria
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Although artisanal mining is dominant in the Pan-African Mineral Belt in North-Central Nigeria, there are no known reports of studies detailing the mineralization, type of mineral occurrences, and processes controlling the mineralization in the area. This study aimed to conduct a geochemical evaluation of stream sediment heavy mineral fractions to understand the mineral ore characteristics. The adopted methodology involved delineating the study area based on potential mineralization and collecting stream sediment samples (n = 67) for heavy mineral fractions in a sampling density of 1 per 10 m 2 . The samples were analyzed for their geochemical and mineralogical compositions using instruments such as inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). The obtained results were subjected to Sequential Binary Partition, followed by appropriate mathematical log-ratio transformations to deal with inherent problems associated with compositional data. The obtained data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics, analysis of Median Absolute Deviation, and threshold mapping was employed to delineate geochemical anomalies. Univariate and multivariate analyses were employed to understand the geochemical associations, dispersion patterns, and geological processes. The result revealed that Mo, Cu, Zn, Au, Sr, Zr, Ce, W, Nb, Ta, and Be were anomalous in the stream sediment samples. The new anomalies of base and rare metals, precious metals, and gemstone likely mineralization were supported by evidence from mineralogical and mineral ore studies. The proving showed that mineralization of the Basement terrain is towards the West of Lokoja while the significant Fe anomalies suggest being from goethite, haematite, ± siderite-bearing ironstone formations generally found in the northern part of the study area.
