Mineralogy and heavy minerals recovery of stream sediments on the Jos Plateau, northcentral Nigeria: implications for mineralization

This study focuses on mineralogy and heavy minerals recovery of stream sediments on the Jos Plateau, northcentral Nigeria and Implications for Mineralization. Ten (10) stream sediment samples were collected on the Jos Plateau and six (6) recovered mineral sediments after separation were subjected to X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The stream sediments were subjected to magnetic separation for the recovery of heavy minerals. Magnetic separation was performed to separate ferromagnetic and paramagnetic minerals from diamagnetic minerals fractions. The mineralogical composition of stream sediments before economic mineral recovery include: quartz (43.00–68.70%), microcline (10.00–40.00%), albite (9.00–29.00%), cordierite (2.00–5.00%), annite (1.00–4.00%), phlogopite (1.00–6.10%), orthoclase (32.00%), nenadkevichite (12.00%), sanidine (17.00%) and bytownite (25.30%). The identification of quartz, microcline, orthoclase, sanidine and albite in the mineralogical compositions of stream sediments suggest felsic sources while the presence of phlogopite, bytownite and annite suggest mafic sources of the stream sediments. The provenance of stream sediments in the study area could be attributed to felsic sources and partly contribution from mafic sources. The mineralogical compositions of stream sediments after separation are monazite (37.15–63.4%), Ilmenite (53.80–59.3%), magnetite (23.30–27.20%) zircon (71.30–76.30%) and rutile (3.30%). The occurrence of economic minerals such as monazite, ilmenite, magnetite, zircon and rutile in the stream sediments attest to mineralization in the study area.