Observational analysis reveals sulfide mineralization and arsenopyrite presence in the Bagoue Basin, highlighting exploration potential.
The Birimian greenstone belts of West Africa are globally recognized for hosting some of the most prolific orogenic gold deposits. In Côte d’Ivoire, the Bagoue Basin forms a major segment of the Boundiali Belt and represents one of the most promising yet underexplored gold provinces. This study focuses on the lithological, petrographic, and mineralogical characterization of the volcano-sedimentary formations within the YAS exploration permit, located in the Boundiali area. The research is based on a detailed analysis of diamond drill cores obtained from three mineralized targets (Targets 2, 3, and 10). The intercepted sequences are dominated by sedimentary units including sandstones, shales, and polymictic conglomerates, locally intruded by fine-grained mafic dykes. These rocks display intense and multiphase hydrothermal alteration, mainly silicification, chloritization, carbonation, and potassic alteration, which are closely associated with polymetallic sulfide mineralization composed of pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, and chalcopyrite. The occurrence of visible gold within Target 3 confirms the presence of a structurally controlled orogenic gold system, spatially related to NE-SW-trending shear zones. Collectively, these results demonstrate the strong influence of structural and hydrothermal processes in the metallogeny of the Bagoue Basin and emphasize the significant exploration potential of the YAS permit for future large-scale gold discoveries in northern Côte d’Ivoire.
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Coulibaly et al. (2025) studied this question.
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