Comparative Insights into Banded Iron Formations of Ivory Coast and Guinea

The Banded Iron Formation (BIF) is part of the Precambrian history. They are well studied in several provinces of the world: Harmesley range (Australia), Transvaal (South Africa), Krivoy Rog (Ukraine), Labrador (Canada), Lake Superior (USA), Gunflint and Biwabik (USA) and Isua (Greenland). They constitute a world-class economic reserve in Guinea and Ivory Coast, more particularly in the Nimba-Simandou-Klahoyo-Tia Mountains). The main BIF studied are located on the borders of these two countries. These BIF present close similarities in petrography, structural metallogeny and geochemistry. The metallographic study has shown that the mineralization is essentially composed of magnetite. Although they share some characteristics, they show some typical divergences in terms of metamorphism and age. The Mount Klahoyo and Tia BIF are of Archean Algoma type while those of Guinea are of Proterozoic age, characteristic of BIF of the Lake Superior type. Overall, most of the mineralization is contained in magnetite or itabirite quartzites (BIF). From this, we can deduce that the BIF of Guinea are a continuation of those identified in Ivory Coast.