Aluminium for future generation: new bauxite resources identified in Guinea

Laurent Bailly (1) , Jean-François Labbé (1) , A Marot (2) , A Lips (2) , Bruno Tourlière (1) , José Perrin (1) , Raymonde Blanchin (1) , Stéphane Chevrel (1) , N Bah (3) , Eo Diallo (3) , Sy Diabi (3) , Ml Sy Savané (3) , B Diabaté (3)

1 BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)
2 ISTO - Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - UMR7327
3 Ministère des mines de Guinée Conakry

Guinea in West Africa is home to about 27% of the world's bauxite reserves – aluminium's principal ore. The well-known Sangaredi deposit alone represents other 80% of the Guinean bauxite production, with an annual production of about 14 Mt. Numerous potentially interesting plateaus have been inventoried but they were poorly explored and their resources remain poorly constrained. Two large areas have been explored between 2006 and 2009, one (Batafong) located north of Boke, the other one (Lelouma) located to the west of Labé. The most promising plateaus were first identified by combined gamma-ray spectrometry and GIS automated delineation constrain by pertinent topographic parameters. These plateaus were then explored by systematic Auger and core drilling completed by pits. These works led to the identification of around 1 400Mt of high quality gibbsitic bauxite grading more than 45 % Al2O3 and less than 2.6 % SiO2 with good content of available alumina and low content in reactive silica.

Keywords: gamma-ray spectroscopy; selective GIS extraction; bauxite; gibbsite; Guinea

Domains: Applied geology

Laurent Bailly, Jean-François Labbé, A Marot, A Lips, Bruno Tourlière, et al.. Aluminium for future generation: new bauxite resources identified in Guinea. SGA 2015 : Ressources minérales dans un monde durable, SGA (Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits), Aug 2015, Nancy, France. ⟨hal-01157233⟩