A study of the soil geochemistry of the Platreef in the Bushveld Complex, South Africa

A study of the soil profiles in the central Transvaal showed that in most areas a thick top layer of transported soils is present. Since this transported horizon has moved for considerable distances and because mixing took place in the process, the use of soil geochemistry in the search for hidden ore bodies tends to yield erratic results. In the present investigation an attempt was made to use volatile elements such as Hg, As, S and C as CO₂ as geochemical indicator elements and to establish whether epigenetic haloes of these elements are imprinted on the transported soils. The geochemical behaviour of these elements are compared with elements such as Ni, Co, Cu and Fe, which would tend to migrate with the transported soil.The geochemical study was done on the Platreef in the Bushveld Complex, north of Potgietersrus. The Platreef consists of a stratified horizon which contains appreciable amounts of chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pentlandite and platinum-group elements. Four traverses across the ore body were investigated and the results indicate that in cases where the soil cover is relatively thin, approximately 1 to 2 metres, all the elements studied can be used to locate the ore body. Those traverses where the soil cover is thicker and where transported soils are definitely present, only mercury yields significant anomalies, while siderophile elements give erratic and poor results. The mercury anomalies are usually not displaced and even tend to delineate mineralized sub-zones of the Platreef.Arsenic, sulphur and carbon measured as total CO₂, also give erratic results in the cases where a thick soil cover is present. The fact that arsenic tends to be fixed relatively easily in soils, either in laterite particles or in surface limestone, apparently is the prime reason for its erratic behaviour. The results indicate that both S and C would yield unsatisfactory results if these elements are measured as total S and C in the soils. The use of gas species may be more successful.A surprising but consistent result, was the tendency for mercury to be concentrated in the soils above faults, which intersect the ore body at depth. The behaviour of mercury in soils taken along the strike of a fault indicated that a logarithmic relationship exists between the mercury concentration in the soil and the depth of the ore body.