Privately owned Mauritanian mining exploration company Suricate Minerals is making good progress on the exploration development of its quartz, barite, iron-ore and gold projects in Mauritania, company executive director Ahmed Hertani tells Mining Weekly.

Suricate will soon undertake a feasibility study for the commissioning of high-purity quartz deposits containing up to 99.99% silicon. These deposits are located in the north-west of Mauritania, 130 km from the Port of Nouadhibou.

Hertani says the company is in the preselection stage of choosing the companies that will conduct the study, aimed at updating the economic conditions of the project.

However, he notes that Suricate is “particularly attentive” to any other proposals from any potential industrial partner for establishing a unit for the purification of quartz and the production of high-purity silica and silicone metals upgrade in the Nouadhibou Tax Exemption Zone.

The company’s own analysis of the samples carried out on the project’s veins indicated purity levels that exceeded 99.99% silicon dioxide, Hertani says, adding that laboratory tests and analysis have shown that the quartz in the deposits are suitable for the production of photovoltaic- and electronic-grade silica with the potential – once the resources have been upgraded – for use as silicone metals as well.

Hertani comments that analysts are projecting that, in the coming years prior to 2030, there will be a significant increase in demand for polycrystalline silicone, noting that the anticipated “exponential growth” of the photovoltaic industry is impossible without high-purity quartz.

He highlights that high-purity quartz deposits are rare worldwide, which is why Suricate’s quartz deposits – which account for several million tons of the material – are so important.

Moreover, Hertani points out that the company is also working on further evaluating what already appears to be an “immense hydrothermal deposit” of a pure barite.

“These deposits are recognised as among the largest deposits of barite worldwide. This is also important, as the deposits of the current major suppliers of barite – China and India – are rapidly depleting.”

Hertani remarks that the barite fills the large regional faults, orientated north-north-west to south-south-east and east to west over several metres in width, with lengths extended discontinuously over several tens of kilometres.

Currently, there are 25 veins of barite of between 100 m and 300 m, which have been identified in the permit area and distributed discontinuously over more than 10 km along the great regional faults that affect geological formations.

He comments that the analysis of rock collected at the surface (outcrops) indicate barium sulphate contents of 78.9%. Hertani says that this surface barite is enriched with silica, which is comparable in quality with the Bou Ouzzal deposit, in Morocco, the third-largest exporter in the world, with a production of one-million tons a year.

He notes that the barium content of the deposit is between 50.81% and 57.68%, compared with 51.8% of the rock of the outcrops. Hertani states that this mineral deposit is associated with other minerals, such as fluorite, iron-ore, heavy minerals and rare earths, which are also being systematically evaluated.

He points out that barite is primarily used worldwide as a weighting agent for drilling fluids in oil and gas exploration to suppress high formation pressures and prevent blowouts. Therefore, the company aims to ensure the supply of its high-quality barite in areas of the world currently undertaking large oil and gas drilling activities, such as the US, Brazil, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina and the Middle East.

“We are in discussions with an American company that is interested in securing part of its supply of barite from our deposit,” he states.

Gold and Iron-Ore Projects
Hertani tells Mining Weekly that the company is looking for a technical partner and funds to complete the geochemistry campaign to drill on its Inai gold permit in the gold-rich Tasiast area of Mauritania. He adds that there have been recent discoveries of multimillion-ounce gold deposits in the immediate vicinity of its permit area.

He explains that the geological context of the structure hosting the gold mineralisation of the Tasiast deposit follows a north-south shear; ground geochemistry carried out on part of the permit has provided “promising results”, which could be a guide to further mineralisation findings.

Hertani notes that there is an extension of the Algerian Gara Djebilet iron-ore deposit, for which Suricate holds a licence on the Mauritanian side. He states that the iron levels of the deposit have been recorded at about 60% iron oxide, with it being estimated that the deposit contains hundreds of millions of tons of iron-ore.

Additional Projects
The company is also looking for suitable technical and financial partner/s to accelerate the prospecting of its Touracine and Tamreikate deposits, which present a “powerful magnetic signal” associated with geochemical anomalies for lithium.

“Niobium, tantalum and some rare earths, particularly dysprosium, are present in these/this deposit/s. We are also targeting nearby brackish waters, which can also be lithium traps,” Hertani concludes.