Permissive tracts for sediment-hosted lead-zinc-silver deposits in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (phase V, deliverable 73)

Although Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits have not been recognized in Mauritania there are permissive tracts for these deposits in the regionally extensive Proterozoic carbonate rocks of the Taoudeni Basin. Permissive tracts for undiscovered MVT Pb-Zn-Ag deposits in the Proterozoic carbonate units are supported by the occurrences of MVT mineral and alteration assemblages, presence of evaporites, proximity to major orogenic events that have produced MVT ores elsewhere, red bed sequences and basal aquifers that may have been potential brine migration pathways for large MVT hydrothermal systems.

Permissive tracts for SEDEX (sedimentary exhalative) deposits coincide with those for MVT deposits. However, the geodynamic setting of the Taoudeni Basin is unlike that of SEDEX ores elsewhere on Earth, and therefore the potential for this class of deposits must be rather low. SEDEX deposits occur along tectonically active, shale dominated passive margins or in intracontinental rift basins.