Comparative study of heavy mineral concentrates and fine fractions of Quaternary sediments for gold and base metal exploration in Nowshera District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan
Keywords:
Nowshera; Quaternary deposits; placer gold; ExplorationAbstract
Quaternary deposits both fluvial and lacustrine sediments are present abundantly in different parts of the Nowshera District. The geochemical study has been carried out on the samples of heavy mineral concentrates and a fine fraction of fluvial and lacustrine Quaternary deposits from Shaidu and Akora Khattak area and also from sediments of the Kabul River. All these samples were analyzed for gold (Au), silver (Ag) and base metals such as copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni) and chromium (Cr) using atomic absorption spectrometer.
The comparison of results of heavy mineral concentrates (HMC) and fine fractions (FF =<-80 mesh size) indicate that high concentration (>140ppm) of Au is present in HMC while low concentration (< 2 ppm) of Au is found in the FF of Shaidu and Akora Khattak. In both these sampling media HMC show a high concentration of Au as compared to FF. Further, the anomalous concentration of Au in both HMC and also in FF confirmed that the Quaternary fluvial deposits of Shaidu and Akora Khattak have greater potential for economic placer gold. This study has also confirmed that the HMC is the best sampling media for the gold exploration in the study area.
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