QUARTZ PODS AN EXPLORATION GUIDE TO IRON OXIDE-COPPER-GOLD

MINERALIZATION? A. Lobo-Guerrero, Economic Geology Research Institute, University of the

Witwatersrand, (Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, e-mail: ageo@iname.com).
Presented at Geocongress Africa, 2004, South African Geological Society, Johannesburg South Africa.
Introduction: Quartz pods are a particular
feature that has been identified in most of the
Lufilian Arc study region of Zambia and
Namibia, as a by-product of on-going Ph.D.
research project on granitoids rocks.
The term quartz pod (QP) is an informal
name coined by the author for massive or sugary
quartz bodies of varying dimensions. This note is
written to call attention of researchers who might
have come across similar quartz bodies in other
parts of the world, and to share information
about them with the international scientific
community. The author would appreciate any
relevant comments.
Description of Quartz Pods: Features of QP
differ from those of vein and pegmatitic quartz
bodies; what seems most different is their
geometry. The shape of QPs appears to be
roughly cylindrical; outcrops of undeformed
bodies are round to elliptical, and their diameter
varies from a few to several hundred meters.
Some mapped QPs exceed four km in diameter;
there is geophysical evidence of even larger ones.
QPs often occur near intrusive bodies and around
iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) mineralized
systems. Most of the QPs comprise of white
quartz, but color may vary greatly. Examples
show change from milky white to dark gray
smokey tones and to light pink or yellow tints.
Both translucent and milky varieties of quartz
occur together. Different portions of a single
body may be saccaroidal and/or massive.
QPs are seldom mapped in published
geological maps of Zambia and Namibia (Fig 1);
very few references specifically describe such
bodies. Identifying them in the field and studying
their physico-chemical features may aid in the
exploration of IOCG mineralization.
QPs are somehow related to rift
environments. They occur in many different
types of rocks including limestones, dolostones,
granitoids, various schists and gneisses. The
author has seen them occur in an extense region,
roughly 2000 by 300 km; QPs are also expected
to be found in SE Angola, the Katanga province
of the Democratic Republic of Congo and NW
Botswana.
Quartz Pods and Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold
Mineralization: In many locations, QPs have
been found to host IOCG mineralization. The
brittle character of quartz allows it to be host for
massive iron oxides with accompanying sulfides,
braided or sub-parallel sheeted veinlet systems

and stockworks (Figs 2B,2C,2D). Numerous

field examples show hydrothermal breccias
where quartz is both host rock and single
component of clasts.
A massive QP 500 m in diameter occurs at
the Egue farm, located NE of Otjiwarongo,
Namibia, in the environs of the Otjikoto IOCG
gold deposit. At that site, a borehole 325 m deep
was collared and finished in quartz with minor
disseminated pyrite.
Sometimes the country rock is deformed
upward around QPs, as if they had somehow
intruded themselves forcefully in a fashion
similar to that of diapirs. At some locations,
large QPs contain isolated cubic or spherical
magnetite and/or hematite inclusions that vary in
size from a 10 to 1.5 cm diameter (Fig 2A). On
rare occasions xenoliths of any type of country
rock are included within QPs; shapes of these
xenoliths varies widely.
Many parts of the Lufilian Arc have a fourfold rock association made by smaller bodies of:
a) gabbro or diorite; b) red-tinted felsic intrusive
rocks; c) massive iron oxide bodies (magnetite
and/or hematite); and d) QPs. For example, see
Fig 1. These four rock types seem to occur in rift
environments and their origin is not yet
completely understood.
Genesis: The genesis of QPs is unknown.
Several hypotheses for their occurrence come to
mind: a) They may be a type of silicification
alteration. b) Hyper-alkaline fluids may have
dissolved silica and produced QPs. c) Extremely
alkaline, HF-rich fluids may have dissolved silica
in rocks replacing it by iron sulfides. d) QPs may
be remnants of a quartz-only magma or
quartzolites?
Conclusion: The fact that QPs are related to
IOCG mineralized systems is very significant.
Their positive identification as part of the IOCG
systems might become a major breaktrhough in
mineral exploration. If the detailed chemical
signature of QPs from mineralized IOCG
systems is found to be somewhat anomalous and
characteristic, chemical analysis of outcropping
QPs and large areas with quartz float may
provide a new exploration tool. Positive field
identification of IOCG-related QP could help to
select prospective areas for IOCG deposits. In
arid regions, circular areas of abundant white
quartz float may be detected easily on black and
white air photographs and other remotely-sensed
images including ASTER.

Figure 1. Quartz pods, gabbros, red-altered felsic granitoids and iron oxide bodies that outcrop together
east of Solwesi, Zambia. These small bodies of rocks occur together in many locations of the Lufilian
Arc. They seem to be a feature of rift environments. The double line that cuts across from left to right is
the main road from Kitwe to Mwinilunga Kitwe to the east and Mwinilunga to the west. Host rocks in
this case are Katangan carbonates and siliciclastic units. For scale, tick marks are separated 1 km.
Interpreted from public 1:100,000 scale geological map sheet published by the Zambian Geological
Survey Organization, Lusaka.
Figure 2. Various features of iron oxides hosted in quartz pods (QP) of the Lufilian Arc. A, cubic
fragment of magnetite hosted by massive quartz in a QP. B, portion of sulfide-rich, magnetite-filled
stockwork. C, sulfide-rich, magnetite stockwork; field of view is 15cm. D, series of closely-packed,
subparallel sheeted veinlets. A, C and D have scale marks every mm; B, every 2mm.