minerals Article Elucidating Pathfinding Elements from the Kubi Gold Mine in Ghana Gabriel K. Nzulu 1,2,* , Babak Bakhit 1 , Hans Högberg 1 , Lars Hultman 1 and Martin Magnuson 1 1 Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, SE-58183 Linköping, Sweden;
[email protected] (B.B.);
[email protected] (H.H.);
[email protected] (L.H.);
[email protected] (M.M.) 2 Gold Corporation, No. 1, Yapei Link, Airport Residential Area, P.O. Box 9311, Accra 00233, Ghana * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) are applied to investigate the properties of fine-grained concentrates on artisanal, small-scale gold mining samples from the Kubi Gold Project of the Asante Gold Corporation near Dunwka-on-Offin in the Central Region of Ghana. Both techniques show that the Au-containing residual sediments are dominated by the host elements Fe, Ag, Al, N, O, Si, Hg, and Ti that either form alloys with gold or with inherent elements in the sediments. For comparison, a bulk nugget sample mainly consisting of Au forms an electrum, i.e., a solid solution with Ag. Untreated (impure) sediments, fine-grained Au concentrate, coarse-grained Au concentrate, and processed ore (Au bulk/nugget) samples were found to contain clusters of O, C, N, and Ag, with Au concentrations significantly lower than that of the related elements. This finding can be attributed to primary geochemical dispersion, which evolved from the crystallization of magma and hydrothermal liquids as well as the migration of metasomatic elements and the rapid rate of chemical weathering of lateralization in Citation: Nzulu, G.K.; Bakhit, B.; Högberg, H.; Hultman, L.; Magnuson, secondary processes.