Lithological and Structural Characterization of the Gold Mineralization of the Bagoe Basin (Syama-Boundiali) in Northern Ivory Coast: Involvement in Mining Research

The Bagoe basin is located in northern Ivory Coast, on the border with Mali and accords with the Syama-Boundiali Paleoproterozoic (Birimian) basin. In the present study, we propose to make a contribution to the lithological and structural characterization of the mineralization of this basin from data collected in the two main mines located on both sides of the basin: the Syama gold mine in Mali and that of Sissingu� in Ivory Coast. The results of our work indicate that the basin can be divided into two geologically distinct parts. Indeed, the basin is composed of two divisions, namely a west branch oriented N-S and an east branch oriented NNE-SSW. The two parts are separated by the Bagoe river, which coincides with a major regional structure called the Shear-Zone of Syama with NNE-SSW direction. The mineralization is preferentially associated with intrusives and felsic dykes in the Sissingu� zone in the western part, whereas in Syama it is not controlled by preferential lithology, even if the highest concentrations are in the aphanitic-textured basic volcanics and strongly hydrothermalized and brecciated. Hydrothermal alteration is the common feature of the basin's mineralization and could be a proximal indicator of this during exploration campaigns. It is of the propylitic type dominated by the chlorite-sericite-epidote-calcite-silica assemblage.