LITHO-STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BIRIMIAN FORMATIONS OF THE CHAPPELLE GOLD DEPOSIT (HIRE, SOUTHERN FETTEKRO BIRIMIAN BELT, WEST-CENTRAL COTE DIVOIRE): IMPLICATIONS FOR MINERALIZATION AND METALLOGENY

The Hire gold deposit, located in the southern part of the Fettekro Birimian greenstone belt in central-western Cote d Ivoire, constitutes one of the major Paleoproterozoic gold districts of the West African Craton. This study focuses on the geological, petrographic, structural, and geochemical characterization of the Hire gold-bearing system in order to constrain the hydrothermal processes controlling gold minerali zation and discuss its metallogenic significance. Field investigations, petrographic analyses, and geochemical data reveal that the mineralization is hosted within volcano-sedimentary Birimian formations affected by intense hydrothermal alteration and regional deformation related to the Eburnean orogeny. Gold mineralization is associated with quartzcarbonate veins, disseminated sulfides, silicification, sericitization, chloritization, and carbonate alteration. Structural analyses demonstrate that mineralized zones are mainly controlled by NE-SW and NNWSSE shear corridors associated with transcurrent tectonics during the Eburnean deformation event.