Author(s)

Adiss Kamal Issifou Fatiou^1,2, Moussa Konaté¹, Soulémana Yessoufou², Cossi Luc Adissin Glodji², Matthias Heckmann³, Hamidou Garba Saley¹

¹Department of Geology, Groundwater and Georesources Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey, Niamey, Niger.
²Department of Earth Sciences, Laboratory of Geology, Mines and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Abomey-Calavi, Abomey-Calavi, Benin.
³Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hannover, Germany.

The Oligocene Continental Terminal Formation of the Kandi Basin contains high grades of iron mineralization (~56.72% Total Fe). The microscopic study under the polarized and reflected light showed that the iron ore consists of silicate minerals (quartz 50% and zircon 1%) and non-silicate minerals (goethite 30%, hematite 7%, magnetite 3%, pyrite 1%, chalcopyrite 1%, blende 3%, galena 3%, scheelite 1% and gold 2%). The X-rays fluorescence shows that the iron ore is characterized by various elements, such as Fe₂O₃ (57.91% to 91.33%), SiO₂ (3.07% to 33.19%), aluminum (2.94% to 7.74%), vanadium (0.04% to 0.11%), phosphorus (0.79% to 2.29%) and sulfur (<0.3%). The deleterious elements grade is above the permissible limit in metallurgy (0.05% - 0.07% for phosphorus and 0.1% for sulfur). Their high grades indicate that the Kandi Basin iron ore characteristics are not favorable for steel manufacturing despite its good vanadium contents (0.04% to 0.11%). However, it could be used for the cast iron manufacture. Spectrometric analysis by atomic absorption confirms the presence of low-grade gold associated to the iron ore (from 0.006 to 0.015 ppm). The comparative study of discontinuous stratiform iron ore of the Kandi Basin with other oolitic iron ores in exploitation from other countries such as Brazil, Australia, China, Russia, Uganda and the United States shows that iron ore of the Kandi Basin can be mined despite its high silica content.

Kandi Basin, Oolitic Iron Ore, Continental Terminal Formation

Fatiou, A. , Konaté, M. , Yessoufou, S. , Glodji, C. , Heckmann, M. and Saley, H. (2019) Geology, Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Oligocene Oolitic Iron Ore of the Continental Terminal Formation, Kandi Basin, North-East Benin. International Journal of Geosciences, 10, 491-512. doi: 10.4236/ijg.2019.104029.