Les Altérations Hydrothermales Associées À La Minéralisation Aurifère Du Gisement De Dougbafla (District d’Oumé-Hiré, Centre-Ouest De La Côte d’Ivoire)

Abstract

The Dougbafla gold deposit is located in the West-Central part of Côte d’Ivoire at about 240 km from Abidjan, on the Birimian greenstone belt of Fettèkro (West African craton). The lithologies of this deposit can be divided into three lithotectonic units which correspond to volcanic, sedimentary, and plutonic assemblages metamorphosed in the shale facies. Hydrothermalism, on the one hand, caused a pervasive alteration of the primary paragenesis marked by sericitic, silica, and carbonate alteration. On the other hand, it causes a vein alteration materialized by quartz veins. These hydrothermal alterations induced two types of gold mineralization in the Dougbafla deposit. These are: (i) disseminated gold and sulphide mineralization in the granophyre associated with sericite, silica and dolomite alteration in which no quartz vein has been reported; this type however is controlled by the intrusion of granophyre and (ii) a quartz vein mineralization controlled by deformation.