Why is there so much money in West Africa?

The military, which has taken power in Africa’s Sahel region (Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger), is putting pressure on Western mining companies to a fair distribution of revenues from the lucrative mining sector.

Gold is one of the resources at the heart of these tensions. West Africa has been a hub of gold mines that has been famous for centuries, dating back to the ancient Ghana Empire, gaining a reputation as “gold land” due to its abundant preparation and prosperous trade network. The region continues to be a global leader in gold production. As of 2024, West Africa had donated about 10.8% of the total global gold production.

But why is there so much money in this area? Conversation Africa was explained by geologist Raymond Cazapoux.

How is gold formed?

The simple answer here is that we are not sure. However, scientists have a few ideas.

Gold, like all elements, was formed by high-energy reactions that occurred in various universes and spatial environments around 13 billion years ago when the universe began to form.

However, it is believed that gold deposits, or large amounts of gold concentrations in rock formations, occur in various processes explained in the two theories.

The first theory explained by geologist Richard J. Goldfarb was that a large amount of gold was deposited in certain regions when the continent expanded and changed shape about 3 billion years ago. I recognize that. This happened when smaller land, or islands, collided and stuck to the continent. This is a process known as accretion tectonics. During these collisions, mineral-rich liquids migrated through the Earth’s crust, depositing gold in certain areas.

A new, complementary theory by planetary scientist Andrew Tomkins explains the formation of several much younger gold deposits during the plant age (approximately 650 million years ago). It suggests that, as Earth’s oceans became more oxygen-rich in the plant age, gold was trapped in another mineral known as pyrite (often called fools) as microscopic particles. They then introduced sediments that allow geological processes to mine this gold, such as continental growth (accidentation) and changes in heat or pressure (metamorphisms).

Where in West Africa is gold found and what is its source?

Most gold production and reserves in West Africa are found within the West African cratons. It is one of the oldest geological layers in the world, consisting of ancient continental crusts that have remained largely unchanged for billions of years.

The cratons underlie much of West Africa, spanning Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal and parts of Mauritania. In fact, most countries in West Africa, which have substantial gold deposits, account for nearly 50% of the land in the craton. In particular, between 35% and 45% of the territory of Ghana, Mali and Ivory Coast are above it. This is why these regions are attracting so much attention from gold prospectors.

Gold deposits formed within Cratonlock, West Africa during a major structural event known as the Ebrunei orogeny movement 2.2 billion to 2 billion years ago. The event was accompanied by temperature, pressure, and structural conditions that promoted gold mineralization events. Most of the gold resources of West African cratons are found within ancient geological layers formed by volcanic and crustal layer processes around 2.3 billion to 2.05 billion years ago. These are known as the Rhyacian Birimian Granitiod-Greenstone Belt.

These gold-containing belts in Ghana and Mali are far more blessed when compared to other countries in the region. Ghana and Mali currently cumulatively account for more than 57% of the total historical production and resources across the West Africa subregion.

Ghana is believed to be the base of 1,000 tonnes of gold. The country produces 90 tons each year, or 7% of global production. Mali’s gold production reached approximately 67.7 tons in 2023. Mali has an estimated 800 tonnes of gold deposits.

In comparison, the two largest gold producers in the world are China (which mined about 370 tons of gold in 2023) and Australia (which produced about 310 tons of metric tons of production in 2023).

What are the latest exploration tools used to find gold?

Gold was traditionally discovered by breading at the riverbed. There, miners swirled sediments in the water, separating heavy gold particles or digging shallow holes to extract gold-rich ore. Over time, methods have evolved involving geochemical exploration techniques, advanced geophysical investigations, and chemical extraction techniques such as cyanide leaching.

Geological mapping methods are constantly evolving, and at this point there is much interest in combining remote sensing data with cutting-edge data analysis methods such as machine learning. By combining these two methods, geologists can avoid some of the problems caused by traditional methods, such as relying on subjective judgments to create reliable maps.

In recent years, deep learning computer techniques have made great progress. They examine various geological data sets to reduce uncertainty and increase the likelihood of finding gold mineralization through advanced artificial intelligence technologies. These methods have proven to be extremely beneficial for identifying specific features and discovering new mineral deposits when applied to remote sensing data.

Another method I have studied and could serve as a complementary gold exploration tool is the use of stable isotopes. Stable isotopes are elements that do not collapse over time, such as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Some are responsible for helping to carry gold through the rocks to form sediments. When a gold-containing liquid interacts with the rock, it transfers the stable isotopes to the rock, thereby infusing its own signature. The idea here is to use it as a proxy to find gold, as it is difficult to identify the signature and directly identify the gold itself.

Advances in analytical technology have reduced costs, volume and time. This makes it a viable alternative to the geochemical approach. This is the most widely used and relatively efficient method.

This article will be republished from the conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article.