Skip to main content
Log in

Vertical Zoning and Geochemical Anomaly Fields of the Hamama Gold Deposit in the Central Part of Egypt’s Eastern Desert

  • Published:
Geology of Ore Deposits Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Hamama deposit is represented by a steeply dipping massive sulfide orebody, located at the contact between basaltic lavas and their volcaniclastic varieties. It is about 3 km along strike, up to 110 m in thickness, and more than 250 m in depth. According to the documentation of cores from exploration boreholes, the vertical zoning of the ore zone was revealed, which consists of four zones (from bottom to top): 1, the primary ore zone; 2, secondary sulfide enrichment zone; 3, leaching zone; and 4, oxidation zone. The highest Au, Pb and Cu concentrations are distributed in the oxidation zone, while the highest Ag and Zn concentrations are observed in the massive primary ore at heights between 340 and 390 m. The oxidation zone is followed by a sharp metal depletion zone, then the metal content increases in the secondary enrichment zone and finally gradually decreases with thinning of the orebody. The interelement correlations between the base metals and Pb, Hg, Cd, As and Sb have been established, which reflect the polymetallic nature of the ore. Economic mineralization is grouped into two sectors: the Western and Eastern Hamama. The Western Hamama is more productive in terms of Au and Ag, while the Eastern Hamama hosts large amounts of Zn, Pb and Cu.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 7.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. A. Abd El Nabi and D. Prokhorov, Report of the Safaga party on the results of prospecting for gold and rare metals in the area of Wadis Safaga, El Barrud, Abu Makhadeg, El Marah and Hamama, conducted in 1974–1975, The Egyptian Geological Survey and Mining Authority, Cairo, 1976. Internal report.

REFERENCES

  1. Abdeen, M.M. and Greiling, R.O., A quantitative structural study of Late Panafrican compressional deformation in the Central Eastern Desert (Egypt) during Gondwana assembly, Gondwana Res., 2005, vol. 8, pp. 457–471. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1342-937X(05)71148-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Abd El–Rahman, Y.A., Surour, A.A., El-Manawi, A.H.W., Rifai, M., Motelib, A.A., Ali, W.K., and El–Dougdoug, A.M., Ancient mining and smelting activities in the Wadi Abu Gerida Area, Central Eastern Desert, Egypt: preliminary results, Archaeometry, 2012, vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 1067–1087. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2012.00728.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Abd El–Rahman, Y.A., Surour, A.A., El–Manawi, A.H.W., El–Dougdoug, A.–M.A., and Omar, S., Regional setting and characteristics of the Neoproterozoic Wadi Hamama Zn–Cu–Ag–Au prospect: evidence for an intra–oceanic island arc–hosted volcanogenic hydrothermal system, Int. J. Earth Sci., 2015, vol. 104, no. 3, pp. 625–644. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-014-1093-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Abd El–Wahed, M.A. and Kamh, S.Z., Pan African dextral transpressive duplex and flower structure, Central Eastern Desert, Egypt, Gondwana Res., 2010, vol. 18, nod. 2–3, pp. 315–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2010.02.007

  5. Aton Resources. For immediate release, Aton Begins Remote Sensing and Spectral Imaging Survey over its 40km Gold Mineralized Abu Marawat Concession to Further Define its Multiple Exploration Sites in this Mining District 2016/Company report: https://www.atonresources.com/site/assets/files/1197/aton-resources-inc-press-release-remote-sensing-aug-29-2016-1.pdf.

  6. Aton Resources. Hamama West Deposit, Abu Marawat Concession, Arab Republic of Egypt, 2017, NI 43–101, Company Report: https://www.atonresources.com/site/assets/files/1172/hamama_west_jan2017_ni43101tr_v3_final.pdf.

  7. Aton Resources. High Grade Gold–Silver–Zinc Oxide Mineralization from Channel Sampling of Excavated Road Cuttings at Hamama East. 2018. Electronic Report: VANCOUVER, British Columbia. Company report: https://www.atonresources.com/news/2018/aton–announces-high-grade-gold-silver-zinc-oxide-mineralization-from-channel-sampling-of–excavated-road-cuttings-at-hamama-east/.

  8. Conoco, C., Geological map of Egypt: Qusier Quadrangle, Scale 1 : 500 000. The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, 1987.

  9. El-Gaby, S., List, F.K., and Tehrani, R., Geology, evolution and metallogenesis of the Pan–African Belt in Egypt. The Pan-African Belt of Northeast Africa and Adjacent Area, El–Gaby, S., Greiling, R.O., Eds., Wiesbaden: Friedr Viewegsohn, Braunschweig, 1988.

  10. Halbach, P., Pracejus, B., and Maerten, A., Geology and mineralogy of massive sulfide ores from the central okinawa trough, japan, Econ. Geol., 1993, vol. 88, pp. 2210–2225. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsecongeo.88.8.2210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Mahmoud, A.S., Dyakonov, V.V., Dawoud, M.I., and Kotelnikov, A.E., Mineral composition, textures and gold habit of the Hamama mineralizations, Central Eastern Desert of Egypt, RUDN J. Engineer. Res., 2018, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 391–401. https://doi.org/10.22363/2312-8143-2018-19-4-537-551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Rickard, D.T., Kinetics of pyrite formation by the H2S oxidation of iron (II) monosulfide in aqueous solutions between 25 and 125°C: the rate equation, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 1997, vol. 61, pp. 115–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7037(96)00321-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Schwartz, M.O., Cadmium in zinc deposits: economic geology of a polluting element, Int. Geol. Rev., 2000, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 445–469. https://doi.org/10.1080/00206810009465091

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Smirnov, S. S., Zony Okisleniya Sul’fidnykh Mestorozhdenii (Oxidation Zones of Massive Sulfide Deposits), Moscow: AN SSSR, 1955.

  15. Yule, G.U., Why do we sometimes get nonsense–correlations between time–series? A study in sampling and the nature of time–series, J. R. Statist. Soc., 1926, vol. 89, no. 1, pp. 1–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. S. Mahmoud.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mahmoud, A.S., Dyakonov, V.V., Kotelnikov, A.E. et al. Vertical Zoning and Geochemical Anomaly Fields of the Hamama Gold Deposit in the Central Part of Egypt’s Eastern Desert. Geol. Ore Deposits 63, 156–171 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701521010049

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1075701521010049

Keywords:

Navigation