著者
丸谷 雅治 東原 雅実 渡辺 寧 村上 浩康 小島 元 Boubou DIOUMASSI
出版者
The Society of Resource Geology
雑誌
資源地質 (ISSN:09182454)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.55, no.1, pp.59-70, 2005-05-20 (Released:2009-06-12)
参考文献数
23

The mining sector in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania was the backbone of the country's economy in the 1960s when Mauritania gained independence from France. However, mineral exploration has been limited due to several factors including the limited availability of geological information, poor legal and fiscal framework and lack of mining sector promotion measures as well as the vast scale of the country, severe climate and lack of infrastructure.In response to the request of the Mauritanian Government, Japan International Cooperation Agency conducted "the Study on the Strategic Plan of Mineral Resource Development". A geological survey was implemented from November 2003 to March 2005 in the areas of mineral potential in Mauritania with the purpose of promoting domestic and foreign private investments in the exploration of mineral resources.Mauritania comprises five geological provinces. These are the Reguibat Shield, Taoudeni Sedimentary Basin, Tindouf Sedimentary Basin, Mauritanides and Atlantic-Coastal Sedimentary Basin. Major metal ore deposits are distributed within both the Reguibat Shield and the Mauritanides.In the central area of the Reguibat Shield, magnetite formations occur in the Archean groups and large-scale highgrade hematite banded-iron formations occur in the lower Proterozoic groups. These deposits are the sources of iron ores that support Mauritania economy. In the southwestern area of the shield, epithermal; and mesothermal gold-bearing quartz network and disseminated deposits (e.g.Tasiast gold deposit) occur in banded iron formations (BIFs) of the Archean greenstone belt. Moreover, gold-bearing quartz vein deposits (e.g.Tijirit Ator gold deposit) occur in the basalt and ophicalcite units.The Mauritanides is most significant in copper and gold mineralization among the five geological provinces. These comprise a carbonate replacement magnetite-bearing copper and gold deposits and prospects (e.g.Guelb Moghrein deposit), copper and gold-bearing quartz veins in mafic schist and carbonate (e.g.Tabrinkout prospect), copper (and gold)-bearing quartz veins in andesitic to basaltic volcanic rocks (e.g.Indice 78 and Oudelemguil prospects) and disseminated copper deposits (e.g.Kadiar). The other important deposit type is orthomagmatic PGE-bearing chromite deposits in serpentinite (e.g.Guidimaka).In the future, it is desirable that exploration and development focus on gold deposits in the Reguibat Shield, and copper and gold deposits and platinum-bearing chromite deposits in the Mauritanides.