Geochemistry and

Exploration
Geochemical exploration: processes controlling element
mobilization, transport and accumulation
Geochemical exploration: Indicator minerals

Lecture 16
 Learning Outcomes
• Describe different methods used in geochemical
surveys.
• Outline various stages of exploration
• Define important terms used in geochemical
exploration.
• Identify factors that form anomaly
• Give examples of potential mechanisms capable to
transfer elements from ore bodies to the surface
environment.
• Demonstrate the importance of indicator elements
in Geochemical Exploration.
 Mineral Exploration
• Exploration is more than geology, geochemistry,
geophysics and drill rigs.
• It is a very special field of geology that encompasses
other disciplines such as economics, law as well as
social and environmental impacts associated with the
process.
• Mineral exploration is a complex process with multiple
stages and decision points.

• It begins with application for prospecting licence.

• The application is made with respect to section 13 of

the Mines and Minerals Act, 1999 in Botswana.

• Exploration is the key to the discovery of new economic

mineral deposits.
 Successive Exploration Activities
• Obtaining a prospecting license (PL) from the
government
• Airborne geophysical surveys (magnetic,
electromagnetic, radiometric)
• Definition of conducts
• Ground follow-up of conductors
• Property acquisition
• Line cutting
• Ground geophysical surveys
• Definition of drilling targets

The search for metals and minerals is a risky enterprise that engages a
wide variety of experts, organizations and companies.
• Generally, it begins with “reconnaissance” and
advances to “detailed reconnaissance” followed by
selection of target/targets. If last stage is
successful, then it leads to “advanced exploration”
and finally to “evaluation
• Reconnaissance is preliminary assessment of a very
large area using a small scale of mapping, up to
hundreds or thousand of square kilometers e.g.,
500km2.
• Detailed follow-up is for identification and
delineation of a geochemical anomaly that would
aid in locating a deposit of particular mineral or the
extent of an already identified deposit.
 Sampling media used in
Reconnaissance surveys
• Soil
• Stream sediments
• Rocks
• Surface water
• vegetation
 Different forms geochemical surveys
• Geochemical surveys are carried out under two
broad stages: reconnaissance and detailed
1. Litho or bedrock- geochemical surveys:
conducted on a local basis and are targeted for
the delineation of primary or leakage halos
associated with mineral deposits.
2. Pedogeochemical surveys: most widely used
methods for exploration of hidden ore bodies
3. Stream sediments surveys: most widely used and
effective method of the technique used in
exploration
• A major problem in stream sediment sampling is
the interpretation of the effects, if any, of
secondary hydrous iron-manganese scavenging on
metallic concentrations in samples.
4. Vegetation surveys:
a) biogeochemical, where the plant is chemically
analyzed for trace element concentrations to decipher
secondary dispersion patterns.
b) geobotanical, which depends on identification of
indicator plants or association and/or morphological
color changes in certain plants during their early
growth.
 5.Hydrogeochemical Survey: Rapid analysis of water
in streams and surface drainage may help to
eliminate certain areas for further consideration for
exploration

boreholes

Gold Au in
deposit water

Drill holes for hydrogeochemical anomalies due to ground water migration along slope
 Presence of significant
mineralization
• A geochemical exploration campaign aims at
locating economic mineral deposits through
recognition of unusual concentrations of chemical
components in surficial materials such as soils,
stream sediments, rocks, water, plants, and air.
• Exploration is long term and high risk, but the
future of the mining industry is solely dependent
on the discovery of new mineable mineral deposits.
• The outputs of each exploration stage provide
inputs to the next successive stage.
 Terms and Definitions
• Geochemical anomaly is a departure from the
geochemical patterns that are normal for given
area. An anomaly might indicate the presence of
mineralization below the earth.
• Abnormalities that are related to potential
mineralization are called “significant anomalies”
• Abnormalities caused due to geological or
geochemical processes that are unrelated to
potential mineralization and are called
“nonsignificant anomalies.”
• Geochemical anomalies are expressions of
geochemical dispersion patterns of elemental
concentration that are in deviation with the normal
background values.
• Background is the normal abundance of an element
in unmineralized earth materials. A large number of
samples comprised of rocks, soils, sediments,
groundwater, and volatile matter are analyzed for
multiple elements separately for each area before
exploration begins.
• Threshold is the concentration of an indicator
element above which a sample is considered
anomalous
• Dispersion is the natural process of outward
movement of certain metallic elements from a
source. Dispersing elements tend to form a zone
(halo)
• A geochemical relief is background set higher than
normal values
• Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral
exploration which is an organized, large-scale effort
undertaken by commercial mineral companies to
find commercially viable ore deposits
• Ore deposit is a natural concentration of one or more
minerals within the host rock, which may be or has
been mined.
• Gangue are associated minerals or rocks, having no
significant or low commercial value
Example: sphalerite with 67% Zn metal in zinc deposit are
hosted by quartzite/mica schist and dolomite
• Regolith is a region of loose unconsolidated rock
and dust that sits at the top layer of bedrock.
• divided into three domains: the top meter ( comprise of
soil); transported and in situ (residual)
Geochemical profile of soil samples viewing
background, threshold values, and anomalous zone
The geochemical relief consist of three parts:
A low- lying plain of regional background
A plateau of values related to feeble mineralization or dispersion
A peak anomalies closely related to the ore.
Anomaly

plateau
• Background varies from place to place.
• The higher bound of background is called threshold
above which any value is thought to be anomalous
• In mineral exploration interest is generally in
positive anomalies, on the assumption that
ore deposits and their weathering have increased
element abundances above normal crustal levels.
• Negative anomalies can also be important, for
example where they reflect depletion in some
elements during host rock alteration
accompanying ore formation
 Distinguishing Between Significant and
Nonsignificant Anomalies
• Barren rock types characterized by relatively high
background metal content (ultramafic rocks—Ni,
Co, Cr)

• VS

• Human contamination: Mine dumps, smelter

wastes, pattern of agriculture, roads, railways, etc.
• Sampling and analytical errors:
Anomaly is a significant departure from the normal pattern of
background values.
What constitutes a geochemical anomaly?
• Mobility of elements in the physical and chemical
environment
• Depth of the upper altered zone of the deposit
• Shape and size of the deposit including the attitude
• Permeability, porosity, and mineralogical composition
of host rock
• Local topography
• Hydrologic regime
• Nature of weathered profile
• Tectonic movements
• Sampling media and density
• Precision and accuracy of the analytical procedure
 Element dispersion
• Dispersion is the natural process of outward movement
of certain metallic elements from a source, i.e., a
mineral deposit.
• The dispersing concentrations values are less than
those in the deposit, but significantly higher than the
background values.
• Two main processes that cause geochemical dispersion
of elements:
1. Physical Dispersion (movement of material by
stream or glacial action or wind)
2. Chemical Dispersion (chemical weathering
prevails and elements get sorted and dispersed
according to their differing mobility)
• The response of an element to dispersion
process is governed by its mobility, that is the
ease with which it may be move in any given
environment
 Primary dispersion pattern is the distribution of elements in
the un-weathered rock surrounding an ore body, regardless of
origin.

• The formation of primary dispersion is synchronous to the mineralization.

• Can be detected through Hydrogeochemical surveys
• Secondary dispersion pattern are the dispersed remnants of
mineralization caused long after deposit formation by surface
processes of chemical and physical weathering and redistribution of
primary patterns

• Upward Cu migration from the underlying mineralized

basement rocks
 Geochemical Haloes

Near- ore halo sub- ore haloes

The haloes are either enriched or depleted in several elements as a result of introduction or
redistribution related to ore-forming phenomena.
Metal mobility and mechanisms
• The mobility of an element is related to the
stability of its host phases in any change
environment and may vary widely from one
environment to the other.
• Critical properties of elements include electronic
arrangement, ionic potential, stability relations with
change in pH , tendency to form complexes with
organic substance, and propensity to be
coprecipitated or absorbed with iron or manganese
hydroxide
Potential mechanisms capable to transfer
elements from ore bodies to surface
• Vadose Zone Based Mechanisms:
• Capillary
• Gaseous diffusion
• Bioturbation and gravity
• Phreatic Process Based Mechanisms:
• Convection (Heat)
• Dilatancy pumping
• Electrochemical (redox gradient)
• Diffusion (concentration gradient)
 Aspandiar et al.,2008
The vadose zone is above the water table and it contains conduits with free-surface streams
similar to those on the surface. On the other hand, the phreatic zone, or zone of saturation, is
the area in an aquifer, below the water table, in which relatively all pores and fractures are
saturated with water.
• The vadose zone processes are critical in
transferring metals from the groundwater to the
surface.
• Phreatic processes are underpinned by
groundwater as the main solute transfer process.
• This mechanism is limited to low-rainfall and neo-
tectonic areas that have regular seismic activity
 Indicator elements in Geochemical Exploration
Indicator element is an element whose abundance and distribution
pattern can be used as indication of the existence of mineralization i.e. the
element which is targeted for exploration.
Pathfinder element is an element that may be of little economic
significant in the mineralization but one whose dispersion patterns are
potentially as useful as or even more useful than those of target element
Type of deposits Indicator elements
Gold-silver vein type, gold-silver- As
copper-
cobalt-zinc and complex
sulfide ores
Copper-zinc-lead-silver and complex Hg, Zn
sulfide deposits
Platinum-palladium in mafic/ Cu-Ni-Cr-Pd-Co
ultramafic rocks
Sulfide deposits of all types SO4
Uranium sedimentary type Se, V, Mo
Different types of deposits have their own indicator
elements
• Indicator minerals are heavy mineral grains that
can reflect the presence of a specific type of
mineralization through their abundance and/or
particular mineral chemistry
• Indicator minerals have been used for centuries to
explore for a wide range of deposit types
• Indicator minerals abundance and chemistry
continues to be a dominant technique for mineral
exploration in regions of recent glacial retreat
 chemical dispersion patterns in various media around a kimberlite in
glaciated terrain.

In geochemical exploration, the use of heavy minerals has a

crucial role in detecting anomalous haloes around mineralization.
Discoveries of diamond in Botswana, Canada, South Africa, and
Australia among others provide exemplary role of heavy minerals
as guides
 The Regolith
• Regolith–landform mapping is an important first
step to determine the appropriate geochemical
exploration procedures
Materials used for preparing
lecture notes
• Randive K.R (2013) Elements of Geochemistry,
Geochemical Exploration and Medical Geology,
Research publishing, Singapore; Chapter 12,18-23
• Aspandiar M.F; Anand R.R; Gray D.J (2008)
Geochemical dispersion mechanisms through
transport cover: Implication for mineral exploration
in Australia. CRC LEME Open File Report 246
• Gandhi S.M; Sarkar B.C (2016) Geochemical
Exploration, Essentials of Mineral Exploration and
Evaluation. pp 125-158