Identification technique of alteration zones on site Kutacane, South-East Aceh, verified by petrography and XRD analyses

摘要

Alteration is the key aspect in exploration, after alteration model in one prospect area has been determined. It could be a reference to us how to find information for the next analysis to find any prospect area for mining. The important aspect for determining alteration zone was mineral associations in the rock samples. It was a challenge for the explorer to determine the alteration not only based on the theory, but also how the laboratory testing must be managed properly. In this paper, we demonstrated a process how the alteration in selected area could be interpreted from field investigation and delineated alteration zone based on mineral association. The petrography and XRD analyses were performed to confirm field investigation. The analyses were used to determine the information about alteration intensity, primary, and secondary mineral. Each petrographic and XRD sample testing result was interpreted to identify the alteration zone. Following the Petrography and XRD analyses, we classified the mineral association to five areas, Lawe Sikap, Lawe Pinish, Salim Pinim, Nembak Alas, and Lawe Sigala. The alteration zones in the five areas were dominated by Skarn, Propylitic, Advance Argillic, and Phylic.