Microchemical composition of alluvial gold from two Pan-African settings: Igarra schist belt, SW-Nigeria and Lom Series schist belt, E-Cameroon

This study evaluates panned alluvial gold grains recovered from the Uneme-Dangbala drainage systems and the Lom river basin, both located within the Pan-African metasedimentary West African Craton and the Congo Craton, to infer their source rocks and the evolution of the gold grains during their .The Lom grains lack inclusions.They possess secondary gold precipitates, and evidence of amalgamation and bacterial growth in crevices.Gold grains from the Igarra schist belt contain Bi-Te bearing mineral inclusions such as hedleyite, sulphotsumoite, and aleskite with variable contents of Pb, S, and Au.Their drop-like shapes and multimineral composition suggest precipitation from a Bi-Te-Pb-Au melt.Compositionally, the inclusions vary from Bi-Te-Pb-S, Pb-S-Bi-Te, Bi-Te-Au-Pb-S, Pb-S-Bi, Pb-S, Bi-Te, Bi-Au to Au-Bi.The that intrude the metasedimentary rocks are the potential source of the schist belts, although derived from granitoids, has a correspond primarily to an Au-Ag alloy, although grains from the Lom basin reveal traces of Cu.nesses of 884 in the Igarra schist belt and 925 in the Lom basin is lower than that of gold from most orogenic deposits.