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ABSTRACT

The studied area covers about 502km and lies between Longitude 06?55'45" to 06?59'15"E and Latitude 09?7'05" to 09?11'10"N of Paiko Sheet 185 (SW). Tsauni is part of the Basement Complex of Nigeria situated within Gwagwalada in Abuja FCT. Structural trends on the rocks suggest control from some deep – seated basement structures. Mineral suite identified include quartz, feldspar, biotite, minor amphibole, pyroxene, calcite and muscovite with accessory epidote, allanite, zircon, titanite, monazite and apatite for the metagranitoids while clinopyroxene, biotite, magnesiohornblende, actinolite, calcite, chlorite, epidote and wollastonite with accessory REE bearing monazite, allanite, apatite and titanite which selectively occur in the skarn. Ore petrography of twenty (20) samples, microprobe and XRD analyses of barren and mineralized samples reveal mineralization to include Pb –Zn, Fe and associated magnetite, Au, Ag, ±Ba and Cu within the skarn while magnetite-ilmenite with minor sulphides, Au, Ag and Ba occur within the metagranitoids. Skarn and vein mineralization in both the skarn and metagranitoids show evidence of open space fillings, replacement and deformation textures. Structural trends of the rocks occur in the NE-SW and NW-SE directions.