Wuna Gold Exploration

TIME DOMAIN INDUCED POLARIZATION AND

ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TOMOGRAPHY

Opadave Mining & Exploration Services

Prepared by:
Atlas & Geostone Nigeria Limited

April, 2023
 SECTION 1

INTRODUCTION

Gold and associated sulphide mineralization occurrences around Wuna and environ has

been documented over time, extending from Rubochi in the southeast of Wuna, through

Baban Tsauni and extends towards Beni northwest of Wuna. Consequently, there had been

observed/mapped geological signatures around the Prospect area indicative of primary gold

mineralization, couple with artisanal working that confirming the presence of gold

mineralization within the area.

Mineral exploration thus involves integration of various geoscientific approaches in

delineation, and understanding the mineralization style within a metallogenic province.

Thus, Atlas & Geostone Nigeria Limited had been contracted by Opadave Mining and

Exploration Services Limited to carry out Time Domain Induced Polarization and Electrical

Resistivity Tomography over eleven (11) designed east-west profile lines of 400m, running

perpendicularly to mapped structures running nearly N-S. This is targeted are mapping out

the delineated/mapped ore body geometry.

The Wuna Gold Prospect is observed to be structurally controlled and evidently hosted

within altered quartz vein in association with sulphide minerals, occurring in disseminated

pattern within the suspected vein. Consequently, Induced Polarization (IP) in combination

with Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) is been design as a follow-up to the suspected

mineralization trend.

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Exploration License and Location

The Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office (MCO) under the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act of

2007 granted Exploration License to Opadave Mining and Exploration Services Limited,

around Gwagwalada/Giri area (Wuna Community), to explore for gold and associated

metals.

The survey area falls within Wuna Community, few kilometers NNE of Gwagwalada and west

of Giri in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, bounded by Niger, Kaduna, Nasarawa and

Kogi States.

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Aim and Objectives

The aim of this exploration phase is to characterize the delineated structures

mapped/interpreted from both target mapping and geochemical dispersion pattern.

The objectives are;

i. To affirm the disseminated association with sulphide enrichment within the

delineated structures

ii. To narrow down the anomaly in ground units for drilling operations

iii. To delineate the ore body geometry in term of width and dip directions and

iv. To correlate the resistivity structures with their corresponding chargeability

signature, which is the expected signature for a disseminated associated sulphide

gold mineralization hosted in a relatively resistive ore body.

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 SECTION 2
REVIEW OF THE GEOLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA
Regional Geological Setting
The regional geological setting of Nigeria belongs to the Pan African mobile belt and

indicates about 60% of its landmass to be underlain by Pre Cambrian basement complex

rocks of variable types and composition ranging from meta-igneous rocks and meta-

sedimentary rocks, igneous rocks of the older granite suite, which was intruded by

younger granites in the Mesozoic and unconformably underlain by younger cretaceous to

recent sediments of the five sedimentary basins. Thus, Nigeria is underlain by basement

complex rock as well as sedimentary rock.

The constituent rock types of the Basement Complex include mainly Migmatites, Gneisses,

Quartzite, Schists, Amphibolites and granites. The broad lithological groups that comprise

the Basement Complex in the area are:

1. The Crystalline Migmatite - Gneiss Complex which is wide spread throughout

the area.

2. The low to medium grade Meta-sedimentary and Meta-volcanic rocks folded

into synclinorial belts within the Crystalline Basement Complex.

3. The Older Granite emplaced within the Migmatite - Gneiss complex and the

schist belt. The Older Granites are of late Proterozoic to Cambrian in age (Pan

African) and include syn-orogenic to late orogenic granites, minor basic and

ultrabasic rocks, dykes, Pegmatites and marble.

4. The Younger Granites are discordant, high-level magmatic intrusions with

strong alkaline affinities, they are Mesozoic in age.

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Generalized geological map of Nigeria (Modified after Geological Map of Nigeria, 1964)

Review of the Local Geology

The area is underlain by crystalline rocks of the Nigerian Basement Complex, which is mainly

the migmatite gneiss complex. Around Gwagwalada area of the federal capital territory,

there are intrusive rocks (granites) which could possibly be associated with the

metamorphism phase. These rocks were emplaced in Precambrian times and have over time

been subjected to tectonic activities characterized by large temperature and pressure

regimes resulting in features like joints, faults and fractures. In the basement, such fracture,

faults and weak zones have great influence on the mineralization fluid emplacement.

The study area is located within the Central Nigeria Precambrian Basement Complex. The

geology of the area has been studied and discussed by previous workers like Oyawoye

(1972), McCurry (1976) etc. They described the rocks as comprising mostly granite,

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gneisses, mica schists, hornblende, feldspathic schists and migmatites. The rocks are highly

fractured and jointed showing essentially two fracture patterns, NE – SW and NW – SE.

Wuna area where the concession is located is mainly underlain by migmatites, migmatitic-

gneisses, fine to medium grained gneisses, mica schist, calc-silicate rock, amphibolite, coarse

grained older granites occasionally overlain by superficial deposits that include laterites,

soils and alluvium deposits. The gneisses and migmatitic gneisses formed the bedrock at the

low-lying areas while the migmatites occur as very large massive and well-formed hills with

the gneisses occurring as cluster of elongated hills. (UNIFE, 1979).

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 SECTION 3

METHODOLOGY

In investigating near surface anomaly that has a distinctive physical property related directly

or inversely to conductivity, the use of electrical method of geophysical prospecting is readily

deployed to characterize the anomaly for subsequent interpretation. With electrical method,

the resistivity at the subsurface are measured alongside the metallic mineral distribution in

form of degree of chargeability. These measurements give apparent resistivity and degree of

chargeability of the source or causative body. These measurements are related to various

geological parameters like fluid and mineral composition, porosity and permeability of the

source been measured.

The induced polarization measures the degree of chargeability when charges are been sent

into the ground and the source is cut off. The stored charges for materials that are chargeable

are released in form of decay and the technique determines the variation in the degree of

their chargeability. The degrees of chargeability in induce polarization measurements could

either be in time domain or frequency domain. In time domain induce polarization

technique; a decay rate which is exponential with respect to time of a secondary voltage (Vs)

is measured when the charging current is cut-off. The time of decay can be I order of seconds

or minutes.

An electrical current is passed through the ground and potential electrodes (porous pots of

copper rod in copper sulphate solution) are used to record the resultant potential difference

between them. For this survey work, dipole-dipole electrode configuration was adopted

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along structures delineated by integration of the ground magnetic data and geochemical

enrichment dispersion.

Time Domain Induced Polarization (TDIP) coupled with Electrical Resistivity Tomography

(ERTM) survey was conducted across the suspected mineralization. The acquired IP data

was corrected, post-processed and plotted to generate 2D pseudo-section showing the

variation of the IP chargeability and apparent resistivity. 3-dimension geometry model was

also computed to isolate anomalous zones with high chargeability and resistivity values in

order to define high propensity area which ought to be related gold and associated sulfides

mineralization.

Survey Design

Time domain IP data were collected using GDD 5000-watt transmitter powered by a 7kva

generator and 16-channel receiver over delineated anomaly from the ground magnetic and

geochemical dispersion. The setup utilized dipole-dipole array, conductor cables, two steel

current electrodes and nine (9) non-polarizable copper sulphate electrode pots spaced at 25

m dipole spacing. The data were collected at every 25 m along the profile.

The current was injected to the subsurface with 2 seconds on and 2 seconds off duty cycle

via the 5000-watt transmitter (Tx), while the receiver measures the decay of the primary

voltage. 30 readings were stacked to improve the signal to noise ratio and this was repeated

twice for each station.

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Field set up of the GDD 5000 Transmitter and multi-Channel receiver; Current injection
electrode; and copper sulphate electrode pot.

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Modified Survey Design over suspected structures

The data collected daily were downloaded to a computer and saved into a database on a daily

basis. Quality control of the acquired data was done using the Geosoft oasis Montaj IP

module, where the decay curve and the noise level of each channel are reviewed and noisy

channels were eliminated.

Time Domain Induced Polarization (TDIP) survey was conducted across the suspected NNW-

SSE/NNE-SSW trending mineralization. The acquired IP data were corrected, post-

processed and plotted to generate 2D pseudo-section showing the variation of the IP

chargeability, apparent resistivity and the metal factor coefficient computed by dividing the

duo.

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Induced Polarization and Apparent Resistivity Data Presentation

The dipole-dipole IP data were presented as pseudo-sections and the same was use to

concurrently presents the apparent resistivity data for enhanced comparison and

interpretation ease. The IP data were plotted at the point of intersection of 450 inclined lines

from the mid – points of the current and the potential dipoles. The IP data were thereafter

contoured. This helps to:

(i) Gives at a glance, the variations of IP effect in 2 – Dimensions (laterally and vertically).

(ii) It is possible to estimate though approximately, the width extent of the target, its dip

direction and depth extent, when the dipole-dipole data were inverted.

(iii) The dipole – dipole array has significant depth of investigation hence its section can be

indicative of sources at relatively deep depth.

The IP chargeability and resistivity data pseudo-section were plotted using the IP module of

Oasis Montaj software. The software contours the IP chargeability values acquired at

different depths and locations, and also assign a color scale as defined by the user.

On the pseudo-section, the high IP chargeability portions are in color pink, while the low IP

areas are in green-blue color. In the resistivity section, the low resistivity areas are in blues,

while the pink areas are the highly resistive area.

A 3-dimension geometry was also generated by stacking the parallel profile and visualizing

the stack plot in 3-dimension. The model was constraints to regions with relatively high

chargeability with a corresponding relatively high resistivity.

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 SECTION 4

INDUCED POLARIZATION AND ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TOMOGRAPHY

RESULTS

With electrical method, the resistivity at the subsurface are measured alongside the metallic

mineral distribution in form of degree of chargeability. These measurements give apparent

resistivity and degree of chargeability of the source body. These measurements are related

to various geological parameters like fluid and mineral composition, porosity and

permeability of the source been measured.

The gold mineralization within the study area is observed to be epigenetic structurally

controlled and occur in disseminated form within the vein quartz and quartzitic material.

The quartz veins are typified with very high resistivity values as they are crystalline and not

conductive. Thus, with the impregnation of the sulphide/metallic minerals (e.g., gold) which

are chargeable, the induced polarization response was thus characterize with high values.

The acquired induced polarization data were processed and plotted to generate 2-D pseudo-

sections showing the variation of the chargeability and apparent resistivity along each

traverse. The two sections are plotted over each other for enhanced comparison and

interpretational ease. The uppermost section is the induced polarization chargeability plot,

while the lower section is the apparent resistivity over the same traverse. For the two

sections, the highest value was assigned purple while the lower values were assigned blue.

The induced polarization and apparent resistivity data were collected simultaneously using

the time domain induced polarization system (GDD) transmitter and multi-electrode

receiver.
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The acquisition profile layout follows anomaly picked from the integration of the geology,

geochemical studies and ground magnetic survey where secondary structures which are

localized and suspected to controlled the gold mineralization trends were isolated.

The post processed data were compiled into a database system in Geosoft Oasis Montaj

software environment using the IP extension menu. With the compiled database, the pseudo-

section for both the induced polarization and apparent resistivity were computed and

plotted for each of the profiles. The plot shows the pseudo-section from the northern-most

profile to the south.

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Profile 11 to 2: - 2-Dimension Pseudo-Section plot of both the chargeability (top) with its
corresponding apparent resistivity (bottom). The purple colouration marks the highest
chargeability values and corresponding resistivity while the blue marks the low
chargeability and low resistivity. Note the dip of the resistivity structures

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The stack plots for the two sub-methods were equally generated to compare the trend in line

with the structural direction as obtained from the previous exploration phases. The stack

plot shows the results for each profile starting from the north down to the south.

Stacked pseudo-section plot of the chargeability 2-dimension grid for each of the traverses
from profile 11 to profile1.

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Stacked pseudo-section plot of the apparent resistivity 2-dimension grid for each of the
traverses from profile 11 to profile1.

Resistivity value arising from the host rock, with a corresponding high chargeability due to

the effect of the disseminated sulphide and gold within the host rock. The resistivity

structure shows an area with highly varied lithology contrast owing to emplacement of

different rock types of different geological episodes or ages as observed from the geological

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field mapping and interpreted structural map from the magnetic data processing. There are

also evidences of intrusive cross-cutting each other depicting fracturing and faulting.

Volumetric Estimation of the Interpreted Suspected Ore Body

Volumetric estimation is an important part in mineral exploration for resource size

estimation. A routine method of assigning points to each voxel blocks and counting the

numbers of voxels that are filled was used. In order to reduce the exaggeration in the

computation, the Oasis Montaj software introduces an improved algorithm to estimate the

volume of a 3D model using a voxel-based method which will correct for the overestimation.

After voxel space transformation, each voxel which contains points was reduced to the

volume of its surrounding bounding box. Voxels are identified by a neighbourhood analysis

in the X and Y direction of each filled voxel. Finally, the approximate volume of the 3D

geometry was composed by the sum of the bounding box volumes of the filled voxels.

Several attempts had been made with the use of voxel-model (block-model) by various

researchers, noting two (2) major problems with the algorithm. These problems are; lack of

precision with the cubes of the voxel and redundancy when matching model with voxel

space. The volume calculated is therefore an estimated volume for the ore body.

Assessment of the 3-dimensional model and ore body geometry gives an estimated volume

of the ore body based on the threshold value of 7mV/V used for the chargeability value. Thus,

it was being assumed that chargeability values less than 7 mV/V typifies less chargeable

zones and its response as a mineralized zone is therefore masked off the model. The

volumetric value of the suspected ore body based on its geometry configuration was

computed using voxel statistics for visible cell.

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The estimated volume was computed as 1,992,144 m3 with a mean chargeability value of
12.220mV/V (min – 7.000 to a max of 39.227).

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 SECTION 5

SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

Time Domain Induced Polarization (TDIP) and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERTM)

had been used as geophysical follow up to characterize the delineated structures from the

previous geoscientific methods, including geochemical dispersion pattern.

The chargeability responses from the decay of the disseminated mineralization within a

relatively high resistivity represent the target anomaly (high chargeability with a

corresponding relatively high resistivity).

For the Induced Polarization data acquired, though the values were not conspicuously high,

but show relatively high chargeability values corresponding to some of the delineated

Structures and geochemical anomalies with corresponding relatively high apparent

resistivity signatures interpreted as the resistivity signatures of the ore body hosting the

disseminated mineralization. Consequently, as a follow-up action, drilling operation is

recommended to confirm the mineralization and subsequently ascertain the geometry

configuration of the ore body, their dip direction, approximate width of the ore body and in

essence validate the resource size computation. Attached as annex are the selected drilling

locations.

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 Appendix

Target Drill Location

S/No. Profile Dip Northing Easting Drill Depth (m)

1 L11 East 997240 292125 75

2 L11 East 997240 292240 62

3 L10 East 997140 292075 50

4 L10 East 997140 292190 75

5 L9 East 997040 292075 62

6 L9 East 997040 292200 75

7 L7 East 996840 292085 87.5

8 L5 East 996640 292290 87.5

9 L5 East 996640 292250 87.5

10 L4 East 996540 292115 87.5

11 L4 East 996540 292275 87.5

12 L3 East 996440 292100 87.5

13 L3 East 996440 292215 87.5

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