Prepared in cooperation with theMinistry of Petroleum, Energy and Mines, Islamic Republic of Mauritania Second Projet de Renforcement Institutionnel du Secteur Minier de la République Islamique de Mauritanie (PRISM-II) Reported Industrial Minerals Occurrences and Permissive Areas for Other Occurrences in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania: Phase V, Deliverable 89 By William H. Langer Open-File Report 2013–1280 Chapter R U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior SALLY JEWELL, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Suzette M. Kimball, Acting Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2015 For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1–888–ASK–USGS For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod To order this and other USGS information products, visit http://store.usgs.gov Suggested citation: Langer, W.H., 2015, Reported industrial minerals occurrences and permissive areas for other occurrences in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, (phase V, deliverable 89), chap. R of Taylor, C.D., ed., Second projet de renforcement institutionnel du secteur minier de la République Islamique de Mauritanie (PRISM-II): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2013‒1280-R, 23 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20131280. [In English and French.] Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. Multiple spellings are used in various literatures, and may be reflected in the text. This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards or for stratigraphic nomenclature. The report is being released in both English and French. In both versions, we use the French-language names for formal stratigraphic units. ISSN 2331-1258 (online) ii Reported Industrial Minerals Occurrences and Permissive Areas for Other Occurrences in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania 1 Summary Previous PRISM reports discuss a variety of industrial minerals. Gypsum, phosphate, salt, stone, sulfur, and ilmenite command the majority of the attention in the earlier geologic reports. (Ilmenite is evaluated in a separate U.S. Geological Survey report in the current study). Asbestos, arsenic, barite, fluorite, and kaolin are listed in indices (occurrence datasets) as potential mineral resources (Marsh and Anderson, 2015), but previous reports do not elaborate on their development potential. Beryl, described herein with the discussions of pegmatites, is also listed in indices of potential mineral resources, but has not been described in terms of its industrial mineral potential. Short discussions on the potential for cement (carbonate rocks), glass sand, peat, and sillimanite resources are included in this report. iii Contents Reported Industrial Minerals Occurrences and Permissive Areas for Other Occurrences in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ................................................................................................................................................iii 1 Summary..................................................................................................................................................................iii 3 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 3.1 Overview of Mauritania’s Industrial Mineral Potential ........................................................................................ 2 3.2 Sources of information ...................................................................................................................................... 5 3.2.1 Geologic Factors ......................................................................................................................................... 5 3.2.2 Marketing Factors ....................................................................................................................................... 5 4 Industrial Minerals of Primary Interest ...................................................................................................................... 5 4.1 Dimension Stone ............................................................................................................................................... 5 4.1.1 Geologic Factors ......................................................................................................................................... 5 4.1.2 Marketing Factors ....................................................................................................................................... 7 4.2 Aggregate .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 4.2.1 Geologic Factors ......................................................................................................................................... 7 4.2.2 Marketing Factors ....................................................................................................................................... 7 4.3 Gypsum ............................................................................................................................................................. 7 4.3.1 Geologic Factors ......................................................................................................................................... 7 4.3.2 Marketing Factors ....................................................................................................................................... 8 4.4 Phosphate ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 4.4.1 Geologic Factors ....................................................................................................................................... 10 4.4.1.1 Phosphate Deposits in the Bofal Formation ....................................................................................... 10 4.4.1.2 Phosphates in the Taoudeni Basin ..................................................................................................... 11 4.4.2 Marketing Factors ..................................................................................................................................... 12 4.5 Salt .................................................................................................................................................................. 13 4.5.1 Geologic Factors ....................................................................................................................................... 13 4.5.2 Marketing Factors ..................................................................................................................................... 13 4.6 Sulfur ............................................................................................................................................................... 14 4.6.1 Geologic Factors ....................................................................................................................................... 14 4.6.2 Marketing Factors ..................................................................................................................................... 15 5 Industrial Minerals of Secondary Interest ............................................................................................................... 16 5.1 Asbestos ......................................................................................................................................................... 16 5.1.1 Marketing Factors ..................................................................................................................................... 16 5.2 Arsenic ............................................................................................................................................................ 17 5.2.1 Marketing Factors ..................................................................................................................................... 17 5.3 Barite ............................................................................................................................................................... 17 5.3.1 Marketing Factors ..................................................................................................................................... 17 5.4 Fluorite ............................................................................................................................................................ 17 5.4.1 Marketing factors ...................................................................................................................................... 17 5.5 Kaolin .............................................................................................................................................................. 18 5.5.1 Marketing Factors