Ressources minérales du Tchad: une revue

Chad has an area of about 1.2 million km², is located in the centreof the African continent and is not well explored. Results of importance to the local economic geology have been acquired recently, mainly during mineral exploration:

• 1. 

  i) all geological formations within Chad territory were reworked/influenced by the Pan-African Orogeny (by the end of the Proterozoic) terminating the crustal evolution of the area with most of the Chad granitoids being formed during this event;

• 2. 

  ii) The Precambrian formations are of Proterozoic age and contain volcanosedimentary series with considerable mineral potential (Au,…);

• 3. 

  iii) the vast Chad Basin (extending into neighbouring countries) has a complex structure and includes several sub-basins and troughs, whose development started during the break-up of Gondwana; they have been filled by up to 10, 000 m of sediments and petroleum and gas occur within these structures;

• 4. 

  iv) well preserved fossil remnants of an Australopithecus have been recently found in Chad; and

• 5. 

  v) large reserves of oil and vaste resources of a variety of minerals (Au, ornamental stones, marbles, diatomites, etc.) have been found.