Chemical Characterization of Filin-Kokuwa Gold Deposit in Northeast Nigeria Towards Its Appraisal

Discovering new gold deposits is without a doubt, pertinent to meet the increasing demand for precious minerals like gold. Characterization is done to ascertain the presence of Gold in the Filin-kokuwa deposit. Characterization was carried out using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (ED-XRF), and Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). The results revealed that Filin–Kokuwa gold ore approximately assayed 15 ppm, Au. It was observed from the result that the ore contains 66.5% SiO₂, 7.37% K₂O, 3.16% CaO, 0.0015% Au, and other associated minerals. Further qualitative analysis using petrography revealed non-equiaxial mineral grains (light grey), unevenly distributed across the dark-grey ore matrix. This study, therefore, established that the deposit contains gold ore and could be a potential source of gold exploitation in Nigeria.