A review of a 10-year investigation of Paleoproterozoic gold in West Africa

Gold mineralization in the Paleoproterozoic of West Africa (Baule-Mossi Domain) lasted more than 100 million years. Three prolific periods for ore deposition took place during the Eburnean orogeny, between ca. 2110 and 2060 Ma, a complex period of deformation, crustal thickening, burial, metamorphism, partial melting, and exhumation. This review raises a fundamental question. Was the total gold budget acquired right from the earliest geodynamic stages through accretion of juvenile crust and then remobilized during crustal reworking? Or was an initial gold budget refined by mantle-derived magmas throughout the orogenic cycle? The missing link of the West African metallogenic puzzle lies in the apparently Au-poor Archean Kénéma-Man Domain.

Masurel, Q., Eglinger, A., Thébaud, N. et al. (2021) Paleoproterozoic gold events in the southern West African Craton: review and synopsis. Mineralium Deposita. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-021-01052-5

I am a CNRS research scientist. Most of my research concerns hydrothermal mineral deposits. I study the processes that occur when hot fluids interact with rocks in the crust, alter them, carry and eventually precipitate metals to form a deposit. I use a field-based approach that ranges from mineralogical to µ-scale analysis and fluid inclusion investigations.

Recently, I have been working on green energy resources such as Li, as well as on sustainable metal recovery in active mines and tailings.