Factor Analysis of Geogas and Prospecting Significances in a Mining
Areas in Zhuguang Mountain
Fei Li, Liangquan Ge
*
, Qingju He, Kun Sun, Su Xu, Tao Wu and Jingru Xu
College of Nuclear Technology and Automation Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China.
Keywords: Geogas method, R factor, element enrichment, uranium
Abstract: Ultiple uranium deposits have been found in south of Zhuguang Mountains, and the deep prospecting
foreground is huge. In this paper, the relationship between the geogas and hydrothermal deposition is
analyzed by factor analysis. The result shows that there is some corresponding relation between the geogas
and hydrothermal in time and space and turn out to be different diagenetic age to different element
enrichment. The geogas area can reflect the information of the deep concealed uranium deposits. Thus, it
can be predicted that Uranium enrichment favourable mentallogenic province exist in early Yanshan type A
granite rock mass in the oxide layer through the characteristic.
1 INTRODUCTION
In recent years, important progresses have been
made in the study of the mineralization pattern of
the granite type rich-uranium ore in the southern part
of the Zhuguang Mountains in North Guangdong. It
turns out that there are still a large number of blind
uranium deposit in the southern mining area, but no
breakthrough has been made for the deep uranium
deposits (
Du, 2011; Liu, 2011; Zhang et al., 2011; Zhu,
2010
). Recently, scholars (home and abroad) have
confirmed through Transmission Electron
Microscope (TEM) that the geogas can carry
nanoscale trace elements (
Cao, 2009; Cao et al., 2011;
Lippmann et al., 2011
) from the deep ore body and
utilize the gases release from the crust for
prospecting the deep concealed deposits by a deep
penetrating geochemical method -- geogas method,
which is of great strategic significance (
Wang and Ye,
2011; Zang et al., 2012; Xie and Wang, 2003
). Although
many studies have found that the geogas method can
reflect the buried information of deep ore bodies,
reasonable explanation and analysis on the amount
of information and inner link between the
information and the orebody rock have not shown
before. Based on the uncertainties between the
geogas method and the deep concealed deposits, the
author conducts the R-type factor analysis on the
geogas prospecting data from a uranium deposits
rock mass in the southern part of the Zhuguang
Mountains in northern Guangdong. The author
analyzes the relationship between the factor cluster,
uranium metallogenic fluid and find significance in
prospecting.
2 GEOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF
THE WORK AREA
The Yangtze River mining area is located in
Changjiang Town, Renhua County, Guangdong
Province, which is at the junction of three provinces
-- Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan. It’s location is
between the southwestern margin of the Caledonian
uplift in Fujian and Jiangxi Province and the
southeast margin of the junction of Hunan, Guangxi
and the North guangdong Hercynian-Indosinian
Depression, where lies south part of the Zhuguang
Mountains rock mass (
Ke et al., 2009).The Yangtze
river Mining area is located at the junction of the
Rucheng-Huilai cutting fault in the northwest
direction, the Jiufeng-Xianyou fault in the east-west
direction and the deep fault in the north-east
direction of Wuchuan-Shaoguan (north to Tan-Lu
fault), where it is a mantle slope transition zone
good for uranium mineralization. Rocks exposed in
294
Li, F., Ge, L., He, Q., Sun, K., Xu, S., Wu, T. and Xu, J.
Factor Analysis of Geogas and Prospecting Significances in a Mining Areas in Zhuguang Mountain.
In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Environment and Geoscience (IWEG 2018), pages 294-299
ISBN: 978-989-758-342-1
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

the work area mainly are early Yanshanian, followed
by Indosinian and late Yanshanian intrusive granites
and a few late Yanshanian mafic dikes. According to
the intrusion relationship of rock mass, lithofacies
and lithology contrast, the intrusive rock in the area
is divided into six intrusive stages and eight
intrusion activities (
Zhang et al., 2010 ).
Figure 1: The Yangtze river region oil hole geological
map.
1-Quaternary; 2-Granitie porphyry; 3-Yanshanian fine-
grained white mica granite; 4-Yanshanian fine-grained
two-mica granite; 5-Yanshan grain biotite granite; 6-
Indosinian small medium grained porphyritic mica granite;
7-Indosinian Coarse grained porphyritic biotite granite; 8-
Syenite; 9-Bright spot pulse; 10-Deposit; 11-Abnormal
point; 12-Tectonic-alteration zone; 13- Exploration line
Exploration area (Figure 1) has a total of three
measuring lines, the first measuring line is N line,
whose direction is perpendicular to north-south
direction to the 10 large faults with 10m dot pitch
and 500m line length; the second line is the No. 14
measuring line, whose direction is perpendicular to
east-west direction with 10m dot pitch and 1000m
line length; the third line is the No. 19 measuring
line, whose direction is parallel to N line , the
direction parallel to the N line with 10m dot pitch
and 500m line length.
3 BASIC PRINCIPLE OF
MEASUREMENT METHOD
Geogas sampling device is composed of sampler,
dryer and gas trap, each part connected by a silicone
catheter. During sampling, a 50cm-deep hole was
drilled on the surface coating of the earth with
drilling steel, and the sampler was then inserted into
the borehole and the cone portion of the top of the
sampler was blocked against the orifice, and silicone
catheters were used to connect the port of each
device. Set the pumping rate of 2L / min to make the
geogas materials filter the 5% dilutes nitrate acid
solution. Subsequently, the field dilute nitric acid
solution that successfully collected geogas was
brought back to the laboratory for concentration
treatment, and 20 ml of the extract solution was
concentrated to 5 ml and analyzed using an ELAN
DRC-e inductively coupled plasma mass
spectrometry (made by Perkin-Elmer Company)
(
Renata et al., 2013 ). At present, the analytical method
uses different elements with different mass-to-
charge ratios and can analyze up to 38 elemental
contents.
4 FACTOR ANALYSIS
The ratio of 32 geogas elements (Bi, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr,
Cs, Cu, Dy, Er, Eu, Gd, Hf, Ho, La, Lu, Mn, Mo, Nd,
Ni, Pb, Rb, Sm, Sr, Tb, Th, Tm, U, W, Y, Yb, Zn,
Zr) measured from the three lines in the long-row
area is the original data [ratio of the amount of the
element in the nitric acid extract to the total amount
of the extract in units of (/ g)]. As the measuring
time interval is long, it converts the original data of
each measuring line into the contrast value and set
10-6 as a unified dimension in order to reduce the
measurement error. It uses SPSS 17.0 software to do
the KMO and Bartlett test on data (Table 1). When
the KMO value is 0.927, the Approx. Chi-square is
16542 and the df (degree of freedom) is 496, the
probability P value Sig. (significance probability p
value) is 0 (
Tian et al., 2013 ). Thus, it is credible to
use this data for factor analysis. The first six
common factors (the cumulative contribution rate of
the first six common factors = 80.974%) are taken
out to represent the geologic characteristics of the oil
cave area. All kinds of factors for the geological
significance are shown in Table 2.
Table 1: KMO’s and Bartlett test.
KMO’s and Bartlett test 0.927
KMO Value 16542.972
Bartlett Spherical Degree Test
Approximate chi square
496
Df 0.000
Sig. 0.927
Factor Analysis of Geogas and Prospecting Significances in a Mining Areas in Zhuguang Mountain
295

Table 2: All kinds of factors for the geological significance.
Factor Number Component
elements
Cumulative rate
(%)
Geological significance
1 Y,REE,Co,U,Th,
Cs,Mn,
50.611 Uranium mineralization related element, Indosinian
granite mineralization enrichment element
2 Th,Zn,Cu,Co,Cr,
Cs,Bi,W
60.124 With the enrichment of Th elements, oxygen elements
enrichment, a small part of the pro-sulfur enrichment.
3 Zr,Hf,Rb 66.898 Hydrothermal activity, enrichment of oxy-elements
4 Sr,U,Mn,Rb 72.171 With the enrichment of U elements, the second
enrichment of oxy-elements
5 Mo,Ni 77.282 Pro-Fe element, the enrichment of amphoteric element
6 Cd,Pb 80.974 During the condensation process, the ultimate
enrichment of pro-sulfur element
In Table 2, the 32 elements in the geogas are
sorted by factor analysis and the elements with
correlations greater than 0.4 were formed into
elemental factor group.
In factor group 1, all the radioactive elements U,
Th, Co, Cs, Mn and other high-temperature rock-
forming elements have a high correlation, known as
the main control component in factor group 1. It acts
in coordination with the medium-coarse-grained
biotite granite (bedrock) formed in the early
mineralization (the second Indosinian stage)
deposits and the potash feldspathization
(surrounding rock) during the alteration process.
In the factor group 2, some Th elements are
gradually separated from the U-rich hydrothermal
solution and enriched at the early stage, and some
elements of high temperature were also enriched Zn,
Cu, Co, Cr, Sc, W, which correspond to the
formation of ductile granites (bedrock) and
albitization, calcitization and hematitization
(surrounding rock) during alteration. It is
noteworthy that the lower temperature is the larger
correlation between ore-forming elements and the
factor group 2. This may be related to the interaction
of various elements during metallogenic period
which leads to the transitional ore-forming
temperature.
Enrichment of high-temperature elements Zr, Hf,
Rb and others in factor group 3 is highly related to
the basic biotite granites (bedrock) formed by the
high-temperature hydrothermal activities during the
early Yanshanian intrusion period and the mid-
temperature muscovitization, purple black
fluoritization and pyritization (surrounding rock)
during the alteration process.
In the factor group 4, with the decrease in
temperature, the ionic radius of uranium is gradually
reduced, and it can enter the crystal lattice of the
rock-forming minerals well. Along with the re-
enrichment of radioactive element U, the middle and
low temperature elements such as Sr, Mn and Rb
were also enriched. It corresponds to a small amount
of sphalerithmization, pyritization and fluorite and
quartz mineralization.
In the factor group 5, for a lower contribution
ratio, the enrichment of the iron-containing elements
(neutral elements) such as the main components Mo
and Ni, are correspond to the surrounding rock
formed by silicification, sericitization, fluoritization,
carbonatation (to form tungsten, nickel ore) in the
later stage of the ore-forming with a lowering
temperature.
In factor group 6, the final enrichment of the
main components chalcophile element Cd and Pb
correspond to the low-temperature sphalerite and
lead zinc ore formed by the greisenization,
hydromicazation, fluoritization and carbonatation of
condensate surrounding rock. According to a large
amount of geochemical data, the uranium-bearing
rock mass in this area belongs to the supersaturated
series of aluminium and the lead is the final decay
product of uranium, which proves that the
occurrence of the main component Pb in factor
IWEG 2018 - International Workshop on Environment and Geoscience
296

group 6 corresponds with the final decay products of
uranium mineralization.
Compared the results of trace element analysis of
intrusive rock mass in two Phases of Yanshan
(Table 3), it was found that the U, Th, REE and
some of the oxygen-proximal elements such as Zr,
Co and Cr are more enriched in the early
Yanshanian intrusive rocks. It is basically consistent
with the result of factor analysis of geogas. Most of
the lithophile elements and chalcophile element such
as Cd and Pb are more enriched in the later
Yanshanian stage, which correspond to the
elemental results of geogas factor analysis.
According to the author's speculation, there are
also early-stage and late-stage granite-type uranium
deposits from the oil cave uranium deposit in the
long-row area. The most proven mineralization age
for most uranium-rich metalloges is about 70Ma
(Late Yanshanian Period), which belongs to S-type
granites, and a small number of uranium deposits are
distributed in the age of 50Ma, 90Ma and 110Ma.
However, according to the analysis of factor group
of geogas, it can be seen that there is still a large
amount of U-rich ore-forming belt in the granitic
rocks formed during the second stage of Yanshan
(about 120 Ma). From the perspective of the
alteration of nearby surrounding rock, the
composition of altered rock mineral in early
Yanshan Period is similar to the composition of
granite mineral in the late Yanshan Period, both of
which are characterized by locally strong
silicification, fluoritization, locally clustered and
choritization (
Qiu et al.,2013) All of these
characteristics clearly reflect that the magmatic stage
of late Yanshan Period stage is the product of the
interaction between the post-gas fluid and the early
Yanshan rock mass. According to the analysis, the
oxide contents of the early and late Yanshanian
granites in the Zhuguang Mountains area are
different, but the correlation between the major
elements are obvious. The two reactioned rock
masses are likely to be the product of magmatic
evolution in the same source area from the
perspective of uranium mineralization, its age and
granite diagenetic age also have some differences. It
is because of the early-late Yanshanian homology in
the area that the ore-forming process is in the intense
geothermal depression period (Yanshanian period),
in which multi-stage and multi-order reciprocal
hydrothermal re-melting mineralization occurred,
that’s why in the analysis of factor group 4, there is
a difference between the U-element enrichment and
the uranium mineralization age. From the
perspective of redox analysis, most of the 70Ma
enriched uranium deposits that have been identified
are located in the vicinity of the deep-eroded and
middle-eroded transitional zone, that is, the vicinity
of the pro-sulfur and oxy-element vertical zoning,
the transition zone of geochemistry. However, the
area exposed to the Earth's surface by uranium-
bearing geochemical stratum, which belongs to deep
denudation, accounts for only about 20% of the
work area, the remaining 80% of the area is covered
by the oxygen-rich geochemical environment layer
(
Huang, 2014). Based on the age-related
hydrothermal mineralization features of geogas
method, the author predicts that in the oxygen-rich
geochemical environment of the oil cave area, as the
main body of the Yanshan deep hidden A-type
granite, there still exists U-rich high-grade Uranium
ore body, and its Th element content should be
lower than the late Yanshan ore body content.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The geogas field of the uranium ore district in the
southern part of the Zhuguang Mountain has a
corresponding relationship with the hydrothermal
mineralization of the granite ore body, and
corresponds to different enrichment elements for
different ore body formation ages. The distribution
of enrichment elements from old to new with the age
of mineralization is roughly subject to the
distribution from oxyphilic to pro-sulphur.
In the analysis of geogas field factor of the mine
lot, it is predicted that U highly enriched uranium
mineralization exist in the early Yanshan A-type
granitic rock mass in the deep concealed stratum
under an oxygen rich environment.
The geogas field has a corresponding
relationship with hydrothermal mineralization in
time, so during the prospecting process in the
working area, the period of diagenetic hydrothermal
activity corresponding to its U enrichment can be
analyzed first, and the rock mass strata in this period
can be highly prospected.
Factor Analysis of Geogas and Prospecting Significances in a Mining Areas in Zhuguang Mountain
297

Table 3: Trace element contents of intrusive rocks.
Paramete
r (/10
-6
)
Late Yanshan biotite long granite Yanshan early biotite monzonitic granite
Early Yanshan
altered rock
Sample
1
Sample2
Sample
3
Sample
1
Sampl
e2
Sample
3
Sample
1
Sample
2
Sample
3
Sample
1
Sample2
Cr 3.62 7.49 5.46 8.89 16.3 8.18 8.24 8.77 5.17 13.8 6.02
Co 0.524 0.442 0.457 0.576 2.65 2.61 2.45 2.77 2.6 1.69 2.04
Ni 3.6 1.88 2.05 2.57 3.13 2.62 2.3 2.71 4.16 2.03 1.69
Rb 466 607 440 207 442 420 440 476 440 430 435
Sr 4.81 6.87 4.6 4.25 63.3 46.2 65.7 68 66.9 31 53
Y 23.8 14.5 21.4 9.65 34.7 19.6 38.1 45 43.3 37.2 34
Cd 0.224 0.094 0.104 0.125 0.118 0.15 0.156 0.088 0.162 0.961 0.149
Cs 52.9 25.8 37.4 21.9 46.4 42.5 34.7 36.5 35.1 45.7 26.6
La 2.52 5.82 10.5 2.9 48 34.6 54.5 65.4 46.3 31.7 42.7
Ce 4.5 13.3 37 4.98 94.3 68.4 106 128 91.4 65.1 83.3
Nd 3.27 6.47 18.5 4.43 38.8 28.5 44.8 54.6 38.4 27.6 34.9
Sm 2.11 2.91 7.24 2.08 8.07 6.03 9.59 11.3 8.75 6.39 7.52
Eu 0.024 0.051 0.034 0.019 0.663 0.543 0.63 0.588 0.634 0.483 0.552
Gd 2.14 2.22 4.29 1.45 6.9 4.94 8.09 9.33 7.43 5.83 6.83
Tb 0.602 0.532 0.785 0.301 1.17 0.79 1.35 1.62 1.35 1.16 1.21
Dy 3.5 2.96 3.93 1.46 6.56 4.17 7.33 8.67 7.91 7.03 6.76
Ho 0.485 0.472 0.559 0.23 1.22 0.698 1.24 1.53 1.46 1.27 1.18
Er 1.6 1.44 1.82 0.797 3.45 1.91 3.7 4.39 4.43 3.88 3.31
Tm 0.443 0.303 0.442 0.187 0.546 0.284 0.576 0.703 0.692 0.646 0.538
Yb 4.76 2.36 4.05 1.74 3.46 1.89 3.52 4.52 4.5 4.26 3.22
Lu 0.892 0.407 0.694 0.316 0.529 0.288 0.578 0.705 0.717 0.683 0.497
Hf 12.2 4.78 8.76 3.55 7.76 5.46 7.01 8.19 7.83 13.1 6.23
Th 5.69 11.6 15.5 5.34 42.7 32.6 48.4 65.8 46.8 38.5 39.9
U 10.7 10.8 7.7 5.23 19.6 14.5 12.4 41.9 19.9 23.9 13
Zr 125 43.6 84.5 32 260 187 246 277 241 208 203
Notes: Unit of analysis: Test Center Analysis of 230 Nuclear Industry Research; Analytical method: DZ/T0223-2001;
Analysis instrument: Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)
IWEG 2018 - International Workshop on Environment and Geoscience
298

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This article was funded by the National Key R&D
Project (No.2017YFC0602105), the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No.41774147)
and Sichuan Science and Technology Support
Program (Grant No. 2015GZ0272). Also thanks to
Professor Zhou Sichun, Professor Zhang Qingxian
and Doc. Xiong Chao for his guidance and opinions.
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