Lack of exploration success in Northern Ghana: problems and solutions

Abstract

The lack of exploration successes in the savannah regions of Ghana may be attributed to the lack of understanding the regolith distribution and characteristics, exploration issues, the characteristics of gold deposits and the current exploration practices. This can be seen from scores of unsuccessful or abandoned grassroots explorations programmes since 1935 (Kesse, 1985; Griffis et al., 2002). More recently the discontinuous exploration activities in Northern Ghana, even in the midst of the gold boom and favourable commodity prices have been regrettable. Also, for about 75 years now that gold occurrence was reported in the northern Ghana, none had been developed to a prospective mine. The solution to these unsuccessful exploration expeditions require the understanding of the regolith environment, mineral hosts for gold and trace metals along with regolith map that aids in interpreting geochemical signatures. This research paper therefore seeks to highlight the problems and propose an exploration strategy that outlines methods that could assist to unravel potential mineralization under cover in this complex regolith environment.