Report about:
Metallic-mineral deposits in Northern Thrust (Ora) Zone of
Kurdistan, near the Iraqi-Turkey border
Waleed Sulaiman Shingaly: Waleed_0076@yahoo.com
Mobile phone: +964 750 4479241
Introduction
The study of Metallic-mineral deposits was stopped since the early nineties
of previous century due to the bad security situation of the area during the last
thirty years. Most of the metallic-mineral deposits in northern Iraq have not been
studied in detail. The discontinuous nature of the geological works in the past, and
the rare and limited surveys in this interesting minerogenic province have delayed
the accurate estimation of the full potential of the mineral resources in Iraq and
Kurdistan.
Metallic-mineral deposits have been reported within Zagros Suture Zone and
Northern Thrust (Ora) Zone in NE and N of Iraq-Kurdistan respectively. The
Northern Thrust (Ora) Zone is characterized from the metallogenic point of view,
by the presence of base-metal sulfide deposits with sphalerite, galena and pyrite
mineralization within the dolomitized and brecciated Mesozoic carbonate rocks.
Base-metal deposits in the Northern Thrust (Ora) Zone occur in two districts; the
western district northeast of Zakho and the eastern district to the north of
Amadiyah (Figure 1). The Northern (Ora) Thrust Zone which is included metallicmineral deposits is located near the border with Turkey. It is about 140 km long
and 20 km wide and built mainly by Mesozoic carbonates (Jassim and Goff, 2006).
Figure 1: Geological map of the Northern (Ora) Thrust, including the locations of
Dure and Lefan villages.
Dure location:
This section is located in the upper parts of Serguza valley near Dure village
about 1 kilometer from the Turkish border and 20 kilometers north of Amadiyah
(Figure 1) in an area composed of Middle and Upper Triassic limestone and
dolomite thrusted over mudstone and siltstone of Miocene and Eocene ages (Figure
2).
Figure 2: Mineralized zone at the tectonic contact (thrust fault) in carbonate rock
at Dure section.
Lefan location:
This section is located in Lefan valley at the southern limb of Khamtur
Mountain, about 4.5 km east of Shiranish Islam village and 25 km NE Zakho
(Figure 1) within Late Cretaceous carbonate rocks. In the Lefan section, the zone
of mineralization extends of about 75 m parallel to the bedding plane and exposes
on the southern limb of anticline, striking E-W, dipping of about 50° S (Figure 3).
Much of the float gossan has been derived from shallow depth. A shallow
depression which appears to be the site of old investigation in the area (Figure 4),
was found rich in sulfide deposits.
Figure 3: Mineralized zone within the carbonate rocks at Lefan section. Note the
fault plane cuts the massive limestone beds.
Figure 3: The site of old investigation in the area of Lefan village. Note the old dig
site (red arrow).
Mineralization
Lead-zinc deposits in the Northern Thrust Zone (northern Iraq) are hosted
mainly by dolostones and dolomitic limestones of Mesozoic age that have been
deformed during the Cenozoic Alpine orogeny (Jassim and Goff, 2006). The
studied Lead-zinc deposits occur in two districts in the Northern Thrust Zone, the
eastern district (Dure section) to the north of Amadiyah and western district (Lefan
section) northeast of Zakho. The collected samples from mineralization zone are
strongly dolomitized and show a variable sulfide paragenesis. Both pyritesphalerite-dominated and sphalerite-galena rich mineralized rocks were found
within most ore samples. Due to prolonged subaerial exposure, many of the
mineralized samples are rarely fresh (Figures 4 and 5).
Figure 4: The photographic samples from mineralization zone of Dure location
show the iron oxide minerals.
Figure 5: The photographic samples from mineralization zone of Lefan location
show the iron oxide minerals and band of Fe and Zn deposit.
Mineralization in Dure location
The main part of the ore body in Dure location occurs in a stratabound zone
within Upper Triassic carbonate rocks. Three main mineralization types have been
found in the Dure ore deposits: massive, vein-type mineralization, and less
important, banded type. The ore occurs as a massive pyrite body (Figure 6) which
contains small veins and patches of sphalerite and galena (Figure 7)
A
B
Figure 6: Shape of lead-zinc deposit in Dure (Dure-Serguza) area. A) Irregular
cavern sulfide body. B) Hard mass massive sulfide partially altered to goethite
Figure 7: Sample of
lead-zinc deposit in Dure
(Dure-Serguza)
area
show the sphalerite and
galena within pyrite..
Mineralization in Lefan location
Lead-zinc deposists in Lefan are strata-bound sulfides hosted in Upper
Cretaceous carbonate rocks, occurring mainly as open-space fillings or lodes
within fractures (Figure 8), and can be described as tabular fracture fillings and
replacement-type ores. These vein-type bodies are irregular in width and
discontinuous along strike, ranging in width from a few centimeters up to 2 meters
and extending into the country rock for several tens of meters.
A
B
Figure 6: Mineral deposit in Lefan location. A) Alteration of pyrite into ironoxides. Note the tiny grains of remained. B) Galena (black arrow) associated with
barite (white color) and sphalerite within dolomite host rock.
Thanks