EDXRF ASSESSMENT OF GOLD SOLID MINERAL DEPOSIT OF YARGALMA, ZAMFARA STATE, NORTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

*Bala M.B¹., Shafaya’u Hassan², Yahaya Umar Faruk³ and Muhammad Isah Bello⁴

^1,2&3 Department of Chemistry Shehu Shagari college of education, sokoto

⁴Department of Chemistry Federal College of Education Okene, Kogi State.

Correspondence Email: balambkasarawa@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The gold solid mineral deposit of Yargalma area of Zamfara state, Nigeria was analysed for the elemental composition by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrophotometry. Also, physical properties and anionic composition of the gold bearing rock was studied using standard methods. The result indicated high concentration of Haematite iron oxide Fe₂O₃ (3.295% ± 0.40), Lead (II) Oxide pbO (3.04% ± 0.72) Aluminium oxide Al₂0₃ (2.2%± 0.4) other valuable oxides such as manganese (ii) oxide MnO (0.914%±0.23) Tungsten trioxide WO₃ (0.16%±0.46) and the hunted metal by the local community “Gold” detected in elemental form Au (0.065%±0.31). The results of the physical properties tested revealed positive loss on ignition (LOI 2.8%) and low alkalinity (8.23), yellow colour, specific gravity range (6.7-7.2) and average size of (0.14 mm). This analysis showed that sample was generally rich in Gold, Haemitite, Manganese, Aluminium and Tunsten, hence it is economically valuable for exploitation.

Keywords: Gold, EDXRF, Solid Minerals, Yargalma, Anions, Loss on Ignition