Structural framework of rocks of the Lagoa D'anta mine area, iron-manganese Urandi-Caetité-Licínio de Almeida District, Bahia, Brasil

Abstract

The Urandi-Caetité-Licínio de Almeida Iron-Manganese District encompasses a total of 35 manganese mines, most of which are already exhausted, and 1 currently active iron mine. The host rocks of these ores are associated with the Paleoproterozoic Caetité-Licínio de Almeida Metavolcanossedimentary Sequence. These units have been deformed by the northern Serra do Espinhaço Thrust and Fold Belt, in the northern section of the Araçuaí Orogen. Interbeddings of itabirite, cummingtonite schist, calcite and manganese-dolomitic marbles, calc-silicate and carbonate-silicate rocks, and amphibolitic metabasalt were found at the Lagoa D'anta mine, in addition to quartz-jacobsite schist, residual manganese-rich soil and manganese lateritic breccia. The main structural framework presents a general NE-SW trend and it consists predominantly of compressional structures. This structural framework is associated with the evolution of two Ediacaran dextral transpressional shear zones, the Carrapato zone, in the western portion, and São Timóteo zone, in the eastern portion. The structural framework of the Lagoa D'anta mine reflects a higher degree of shortening in the southern sector of the northern Serra do Espinhaço Thrust and Fold Belt, in the northern area of the Araçuaí Orogen. The ductile structures related to these deformational phases were nucleated under conditions of progressive metamorphism with minimum temperature of 550°C. Stockwork structures of quartz, calcite, epidote, grunerite and magnetite truncate the mine's ductile structures. Fractures were the main circulation channels for meteoric water, which culminated in the formation of a high-content supergene ore in the mine.