Infrared spectral identification of metasomatic alteration minerals and its implication to gold exploration in Shihu Gold deposit, Hebei Province, P.R. China

Abstract

Hydrothermal alteration is of great importance for mineral exploration, especially the blind ore-hunting due to its larger scale and special zonation compared to the ore bodies. Infrared spectral identification of metasomatic alteration minerals can be done with little or no sample preparation and quantitative result can be obtained. In this paper, 65 wall-rock samples of several horizontal and vertical profiles were selected from Shihu Gold deposit in Hebei Province to do reflectance spectrum measurements by means of rough surface, smooth section and powder with portable ASD FieldSpec®3 spectrometer. ViewspecPro software was used to preprocess the spectrum, and metasomatic alteration minerals were spectrally discriminated by SII (Spectral International Inc) Specmin software package with wavelength of 1100∼2500nm. The results shows that: (1) among all the three spectral libraries embedded in SPECMIN software, i.e., ASD, USGS and JPL, ASD spectral library is more suitable for the spectral hydrothermal alteration minerals identification in Shihu Gold Deposit; (2) the observed mineral zonation from wall-rock gneiss to ore-body indicates obvious downtrend of amphibole, chlorite, sericite, carbonate and barite, which is consistent with the microscopic and XRD results; (3) spectral identification of metasomatic alteration minerals is theoretically feasible, which is economic and convenient, and most important of all, the result can be quantitative or semi-quantitative. The results are helpful and successfully applied to the further mineral exploration in Shihu Gold Deposit.