Handbook of Gold Exploration and Evaluation

E. MacDonald, "Handbook of Gold Exploration and Evaluation" Woodhead Publishing Ltd | 2007 | ISBN: 1845691752, 1420044605 | 664 pages | PDF | 7,9 MB Designed for geologists and engineers engaged specifically in the search for gold deposits of all types and as a reference for academics in higher schools of learning, the Handbook of Gold Exploration and Evaluation provides principles and detailed explanations that underpin the correct interpretation of day-to-day experience in the field. Problems are addressed with regard to the analysis, interpretation, and understanding of the general framework within which both primary and secondary gold resources are explored, developed, and exploited. The Handbook of Gold Exploration and Evaluation covers topics as diverse as the nature and history of gold, geology of gold ore deposits, gold deposition in the weathering environment, sedimentation and detrital gold, gold exploration, lateritic and placer gold sampling, mine planning and practice for shallow deposits, metallurgical processes and design, and evaluation, risk, and feasibility. Foreword ix Preface xi Acknowledgements xv 1Nature and history of gold 1 1.1 Gold mineralogy 1 1.2 Gold through the ages 32 2Geology of gold ore deposits 62 2.1 Crustal evolution 63 2.2 Tectonic elements of plate movements 80 2.3 Hydrothermal gold systems 101 2.4 Gold deposition in volcanic terrain 111 2.5 Provenance 126

2.6 Time rate of unroofing ore bodies 128 3Gold deposition in the weathering environment 134 3.1 The plate tectonic rock cycle 134 3.2 Earth's atmosphere and climate 143 3.3 Agents of weathering 162 3.4 Weathering processes 169 3.5 Landscape denudation 173 3.6 Low-temperature aqueous geochemistry 179 4Sedimentation and detrital gold 195 4.1 Sediment characteristics 195 4.2 Fluvial hydrology 205 4.3 Drainage systems 215 4.4 Entrainment, transport and sorting 225 4.5 Fluvial gold deposition 236 5Gold exploration 267 5.1 Geological investigations 268 5.2 Exploration geochemistry 285 5.3 Remote sensing 305 5.4 Shallow land-based geophysics 314 5.5 Shallow offshore geophysics 330 6Lateritic and alluvial gold sampling 339 6.1 Sampling criteria 340 6.2 Prospecting methods onshore 353 6.3 Prospecting methods offshore 371 6.4 Sample dressing 383 6.5 Ore resource estimation 395 7Mine planning and practice 410 7.1 Planning 410 7.2 Operational concepts and schedules 421 7.3 Sluicing practice 439 7.4 Bucketline dredging 447 7.5 Hydraulic dredgers 474 7.6 Dry mining 477 7.7 Miscellaneous dredger types 484 8Metallurgical process and design 488 8.1 Theory of gravity concentration 489 8.2 Flow sheet and materials balance 502 8.3 Feed preparation 505 8.4 Gravity processing 518 8.5 Lateritic gold metallurgy 546 9Evaluation, risk and feasibility 553 9.1 Project management 554 9.2 Economic appraisal 559 9.3 Risk analysis and uncertainty 570 9.4 The feasibility study concept 593 AppendixI Field laboratories and techniques 600 AppendixII Variogram structural analysis 606 AppendixIII Sitework testing 607

AppendixIV Gold economics 611 References and further reading 614 Index 630 Read more: http://www.mineyourmind.co.cc/2011/06/handbook-of-gold-explorationand.html#ixzz1P1dj0ILx