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IN
Kathmandu
1
Nepal
Contents
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................2
Location.....................................................................................................................2
Accessibility............................................................................................................... 2
Climate...................................................................................................................... 5
Socioeconomic conditions............................................................................................. 5
Objectives.................................................................................................................. 6
GEOLOGY........................................................................................................................6
SITE GEOLOGY................................................................................................................ 9
REFERECNES................................................................................................................. 29
2
ANNEXES...................................................................................................................... 30
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1. INTRODUCTION
Mineral resources and its sustainable management play a significant role in industrial
development of the country. Nepal possesses high potential of metallic minerals
particularly Iron, Copper, Lead-Zinc, Silver, Gold, Cobalt, Nickel, Tin and Uranium.
The non metallic resources particularly Limestone, Slate, Talc, Magnesite, Dolomite,
Coal, Pyrite, Mica, Phosphorite, Marble, Quartzite, Silica Sand, Clay, Gem minerals
and Fuel minerals. The economic mineral deposits are anomalous accumulation of
mineral substances suitable in quality, quantity and occurrence for their commercial
exploration. It is necessary to explore more economically in coming days. For now,
Nepal seems to be far behind in proper utilization of its natural resources.
This is geological report on Iron mineralized zone present in the Tolkhan village,
Nayakbada V.D.C., Jajarkot district, Bheri Zone, machhapuchhre Gems Stone A nd M inerals
Put.Ltd. Thamel-29 K athmand u Nepal has obtained prospecting license for iron exploration
at this village. It covers area of 12 Sq. Kilometer. The topographic map of 2882 - 02
(scale-1:50,000 entitled RADI JYULA) published by the Department of Survey,
Government of Nepal encompasses the area (fig. 1).
Location
The prospecting licensed area lies in the Nayakbada, Ramidada and Rokayagau V.D.C.,
of the Jajarkot district, Bheri zone and it falls within the Lesser Himalayan belt of Mid
Western Nepal. The detail of the prospecting area is as follows Table 1.
Accessibility
The area is situated in a remote part of the Mid Western Nepal. It takes four days to
reach Tolkhan village from Kathmandu by bus to Jajarkot Khalanga then foot trail or
three days to reach this village by plane to Chaurjhari then foot trail. The area can be
4
accessed on foot from Jagarkot Khalanga via Panchkatta-Dhime- Ramidada to Tolkhan
or Chaurjhari via Rimna-Chisapani to Tolkhan in 2 days. Kohalpur- Surkhet road
connects via Salli Bazar to Jajarkot Khalanga and Rimna with Chhinchu Bazar.
Kohalpur lies on the East-West Highway and connect with Kathmandu. A route map to
reach the iron deposited area at Tolkhan village is shown in Fig. 2 below. Metallic road
is available up to Salli Bazar. From Salli Bazar to Jajarkot Khalanga a seasional gravel
road is constructed but to reach the Khalanga one have to cross the Bheri River. A
bridge on Bheri River is under construction to the north of Salli Bazar. After
completion of bridge within two year one can reach upto Jajarkot Khalanga by bus or
jeep or other private vehicles directly. Now a days vehicles cross the Bheri River by
water boat. A gravel road is also constructed from Salli Bazar via Chaurjhari to Rimna.
Chaurjhari also connected with Kathmandu and Nepalganj by regular air services.
Government has planned to construct about 50 km road from Jajarkot Khalanga via
Panchkatta-Dhime to Sipachaur (Ramidada). About 30 km road track has opened till
now. The remaining part of the road will be completed within two year. From
Sipachaur (Ramidada) to Tolkhan (Nayakbada) takes 8 to 10 km road will be
constructed after completion the road to Sipachaur.
The Nayakbada area is a mountainous terrain with hills and river valleys. The elevation
in the leased area ranges from 1515 m above the mean sea level on the Daha Gad in the
south to 2930 m at the eastern part. Daha Gad is the main river present in the leased
area to drain the water which flows northwest to southeast in the southern part. Agar
Gad is a main tributary of the Daha Gad. All the rivers and tributaries present in the
area give rise to dentritic pattern of drainage. The leased area mostly lies in cultivated
land few in forest land and barren land.
5
Nepal 1:50000 RADI JYULA Sheet No 2882 02
Main Point
28°57'18"
Prospect
82°15'57
6
Fig. 1: Location and general topography of the leased area showing main point and
other topographical features.
Fig. 2: General route map to reach iron deposit at Tolkhan village, Nayakbada, Jajarkot.
Climate
The climate of the area is typical of hilly region of Nepal, which is very cool in winter
and relatively warm in summer. The maximum temperature in the area rises up to 30°
Celsius in summer season and down below the 0° Celsius in winter season. The area
receives average rainfall in monsoon. Winter seasons are usually dry and snow fall in
December to February with occasional rain.
Socioeconomic conditions
7
Human settlement is dense at Tolkhan village, Talkot, Saubhara, Gairagau, Nayakbada
and Karuka village. The iron and copper deposit area lies in the ward no. 6 and 7 of the
Nayakbada VDC. 86 households in ward no. 6 and 50 households in ward no. 7 are
living. About 40% people are literate. Most people depend upon agriculture and
livestock. Some people are working outside the country and some people involve in
business and job. The major agricultural products are maize, wheat, rice, barley, potato
as well as other seasonal vegetables. Kshetri, Thakuri, Bhraman, Damai, Tiruwa, Lohar,
Magar are the major ethnic groups living in the area. The economic condition is poor to
average. Villages are popular for tourism for their scenic beauty, high hills, peaks,
saddles and ridges. Houses are built by locally available building materials like stone,
slate, clay and wood. Doubly story and single story are most common. Hinduism is the
major religion in the area. Nepali is the major spoken language in the region while a
local language is also predominant in the society. The identified Iron and Copper
occurrence area is far away from the motarable road. Only the foot tracks are accessible
at almost all villages. The Telecommunication facility is very poor, electricity and
drinking water supplies are not sufficient in the society.
Objectives
v To identify the iron bands and trace out them and sampling from each bands
v To explore the most probable iron and other mineral deposits within the leased
area
GEOLOGY
Geologically, the area belongs to the Lesser Himalaya Zone with the metasediments to
high-grade metamorphic. This zone lies to the South of Main Central Thrust. The
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presently proposed prospect area lies in the Nawakot Unit and Tansen Group (Fig. 3
and Fig 4). The Jajarkot Nappe has thrust to the south over the low-grade
metasedimentary rocks that belong to Lower Nawakot Group (Fuchs and Frank, 1970).
The stratigraphy of the area is as follows (Upreti et al, 1996).
The unit is dominated in the lower part by non-calcareous, clastic deposits such as
phyllites, phyllitic sandstone, metasandstone and quartz conglomerate while the upper
part becomes argillaceous and calcareous consisting of limestone, dolomite and slates.
Fig. 3: Regional geological map of the Western Nepal Lesser Himalaya compiled from
various sources.
Tansen Group:
The unit is dominated by shale; slate and sandstone with fossiliferous sequence in
numbers of places ranging in age from Permo-Carboniferous to Lower Miocene
(Gondawa and Post Gondawans) rocks which are unconformably overlie the older pre-
cambrian to lower Paleozic metasediments. Lower Gondawanas unit of rocks lies in the
prospect leased area.
9
Lower Gondwanas:
UN
LG
JF
28o57'18"
RF
82o15'57"
10 km Leased area for iron
10
Fig. 4: Geological map of Jajarkot area (after Upreti, 1996, compiled from various
sources) showing the iron prospecting area in Tolkhan.
SITE GEOLOGY
The prospect area is a very small part within the Lesser Himalaya. Iron mineralization
occurs with the light grey Phyllite. The study area consist the rocks of low grade
metamorphic and metasedimentary rocks such as slate, Phyllite, quartzite and
metasandstone. Geological traverse was made to cover the whole prospect area and a
geological map of 1:12500 was prepared. The geological map of the study area is
shown in fig.5. On the basis of lithology the study area can be divided into three
lithological units.
Unit Lithology
III Light grey to dark grey quartzite with Phyllite parting
II Grey to greenish grey Phyllite and ferruginous Phyllite and calcareous
quartzite. Iron deposit lies within this unit
I Grey to white, thin to massive bedded grey to purple quartzite, intercalated
with grey slate, metasandstone and shale
Unit- I
This is a lower most unit of the area and exposed on the eastern and southern part of the
area. The well exposed outcrop of the unit observed along the foot track to Kauli from
Tolkhan, Karuka, ridge above the Bhoteghareli, south of Limsa and along foot track to
Karuka from Talkot. The rock unit-I and unit-II are shown in the fig.6. The Unit-I
consists mainly of grey to dark grey slate with grey to white quartzite intercalation. The
quartzite is fine to medium grained thin to thick bedded and some bands are calcareous.
11
The slates in some places are also calcareous. A medium to massive bedded quartzite is
well exposed along the foot trail to Kauli from Tolkhan (Fig.7). The huge exposure of
red purple shale intercalation with white to grey quartzite is observed at the southeast of
Limsa.
12
Fig.5: geological map
13
Fig.6: Showing the rock Unit-I and Unit-II.
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Fig.7: Medium to thick bedded quartzite of Unit-I along the foot track to Kauli from
Tolkhan.
Unit-II
Rock unit-II is a middle unit exposed in the southwest to north of the area. Good
exposure of this unit can be seen around the Tolkhan village, along the foot track from
Tolkhan to Maina village, Limsa, along the Daha Gad, Agar Gad, around the Maina
village, Talkot, along the foot track to Talkot, Ratankot and uphill part of the Maina
village. This is an important rock unit. The hematite ore is hosted by Phyllite of this
unit. This unit mainly consists of grey to dark grey Phyllite. The grey, medium to thick
bedded fine grained calcareous quartzite can be seen on the foot track to Silinge from
Tolkhan (Fig.8). This quartzite is also seen on the way to Talkot, below the Tolkhan
villge. The greenish grey ferrugineous Phyllite is another important lithology of this
unit (Fig.9). This lithology is alternating with hematite at Dhaukhani and it extends to
Talkot. The black carbonaceous Phyllite is also observed along the foot track to Silinge
from Maina village. The malachite staining is clearly seen on the surface of fine grained
quartzite of this unit at the south of Ghat.
15
Fig.8: Medium to thick bedded calcareous quartzite of Unit-II on the way to Silinge
from Tolkhan.
Unit-III
This unit is overlies on Unit- II and exposed southwest part of the area around the Ghat.
It consist mainly of thick to massive bedded, grey to dark grey, fine to medium grained
quartzite with Phyllite parting. A well exposed outcrop of this unit is seen at the uphill
part of the Ghat (Fig.10).
16
Fig.9: Ferrugineous greenish grey Phyllite of Unit-II on the way to Silinge from
Tolkhan.
Fig.10: Huge exposure of thickly bedded, grey to dark grey quartzite of Unit-III at the
uphill part of Ghat.
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Geological exploration on iron mineralization
The mineral resources of Nepal are reported by DMG (2004), UNDP (1993) and Paudel
L.P. (2068 BS). The Nayakbada area is highly potential for economic mineral deposits.
Numbers of historical iron and small scale copper mines were in operation around this
area. The names of some places are also derived after the particular mines, eg:
Dhaukhani. But at present these old working mines are not in operation due to various
causes. The area is highly potential for metallic economic mineral deposits. The
identified deposits are as below.
The Tolkhan Iron deposit is a Hematite deposit. The old working Iron mines are found
at Dhaukhani below the Silinge School, Tolkhan. The iron deposit area lies at the
boundary of ward no. 6 and 7 of the Nayakbada VDC. The old working mines are
situated at altitude of 1615 m to 1810 m. The mines are located at west facing slope.
The hematite ore body is hosted within the grey to dark grey phyllite of rock unit II but
green to greenish-grey ferrugeneous phyllite bands are intercalated with hematite bands.
Some thin layers of hematite bands are intercalated within calcareous quartzite. The ore
body together with country rocks having NE-SW strike and normal dipping towards
NW (250 - 580). The ore body is purely hematitic, sedimentary origin and banded
deposit. Four hematite mineralized bands are clearly traced at Dhaukhani (Fig.11).
Otherwise the ferruginous greenish grey Phyllite is extent up to Talkot from Dhaukhani.
The lower band (Band-I) is well exposed on the west facing slope along foot track from
suspension bridge below the Tolkhan to Saubhara via Dhaukhani and left bank of Daha
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Gad (Fig.12 and Fig.13). This band is traced clearly and shown in the fig.11. Band-I
mainly consist of thin to thick bedded, black colored, cherry red streak pure hematite.
The intercalation of ferruginous Phyllite and quartzite in some places are seen with in
mineralized hematite bands. The average thickness of this band is 15m and its extension
is traced about 350 m. the proportion of Phyllite and quartzite are low but itself
ferruginous. The small quartz veins are also present in hematite. 16 samples were
collected from the Band-I.
Fig.12: Exposure of lower hematite band (Band-I) at the left bank of Daha Gad. The
whole outcrop is hematite (Photo facing to west, Location 95).
19
Fig.13: Exposure of Band-I along the foot track at Dhaukhani (photo facing to south,
Location 103).
20
Fig.11: Tolkhan iron deposit at Dhaukhani showing four hematite bands and sampling locations.
The second hematite mineralized band (Band-II) is well exposed at the left bank of the
Daha Gad in Dhaukhani. This band consists of black to grayish brown colored hematite
(Fig.14) and some ferruginous Phyllite patches are also present. Thickness of this band
is 25m and exposed extension is 70 m. the upper part of this band is covered by
colluvium on the slope. Its extension may be more than 100 m. three samples were
collected from this band.
Fig.14: Well exposed outcrop of the Band-II at the left bank of the Daha Gad (photo
facing to SW, Location 94).
The hematite Band-III is exposed on the slope at the upper part of the Dhaukhani. The
exposure of hematite is highly fractured, quartz veins are also present. The ferruginous
greenish grey Phyllite and lead grey Phyllite are intercalated with hematite bands in low
proportion. The thickness of this band is not uniform. The maximum exposed thickness
is up to 55m and average thickness of hematite is 35 m and its extension is about 250 m.
various small bands are clearly seen within Band-III. These bands show swelling and
pinching nature. The outcrops of the Band-III are shown in the Fig.15 and Fig.16. 23
samples were collected from Band-III.
Fig.15: Well exposed outcrop of hematite Band-III at the uphill part of the Dhaukhani
(photo facing to south, Location 163).
Fig.16: Hematite exposure at the middle part of Band-III (Photo facing to SW, Location
168).
The uppermost band of hematite (Band-IV) is main mine of iron at Dhaukhani. The
highly fractured brownish black exposure is clearly seen on the slope across the foot
track (Fig.17 and Fig.18) and left bank of the Daha Gad. The intercalation of greenish
grey Phyllite, lead grey Phyllite with hematite is present at the western and eastern part
of this band (Fig.19). The middle part of Band- IV is pure hematitic. The maximum
thickness of this band is about 40 m. the band shows swelling and pinching nature
towards east and towards west. The average thickness of hematite on Band-IV is 37m
(from columnar section) and extension is about 300 m. 41 samples were collected from
this band.
Fig.17: Exposure of middle part of hematite Band-IV at Dhaukhani (Photo facing to SE,
Location 67).
Fig.18: Highly fractured hematite exposure of Band -IV at Dhaukhani (Location 69).
Fig.20 Thin hematite layer with in a calcareous quartzite on the way to Talkot from
Tolkhan (Location 113).
Fig.21: Close view of the Fig.20.
Hematite is an economic iron ore mineral. The chemical analysis, physical properties
and old mining activities are the important parameters to determine the quality of iron
ore. In the chemical analysis the grade of Iron ore varies from 52 to 57% iron and
average grade is 54.5% iron given in previous study (Orement Minerals and Metals,
2008) which is qualitatively good for iron extraction. Further chemical analysis is
necessary to prove its grade on collected samples from different bands and locations.
The study of physical properties of the ore sample specimens is important to determine
the quality of ore body. The ore samples collection from different locations of
Dhaukhani shows that the brown to black color, brownish red to cherry red streak, high
specific gravity, sub-metallic to metallic luster, absence of cleavage, opaque and high
magnetic property (Fig.23 and fig.24). These properties are the diagnostic properties of
the Hematite (Dexter Perking, 2007).
The old mining activities can help in qualitative analysis. The Iron ore mines found at
Dhaukhani are the old working mines. These mines were operating by local people for
many years by traditional method. The waste product (gangue) during the iron
extraction called kit found around the village which indicates clearly that the mines are
good grade for iron extraction. The local people said that the extracted iron instruments
were supplied to the different parts of the country like Humla, Jumla and Tibet. They
used locally too.
Detailed geological mapping and further chemical analysis helps in determining the
quality and quantity of the ore deposit. The quantity is a reserve of an ore mineral in the
deposit. The Tolkhan iron deposit is a sedimentary origin banded deposit. The probable
reserve can be calculated. The proved reserve should be calculated by further detailed
analysis and exploratory drilling. The calculation of reserve of four different hematite
bands is shown in table 2.
Table 2: Estimation of probable reserve of the Tolkhan iron ore deposit.
Total - - -
16.57mt
The probable ore body reserve of Tolkhan iron deposit is about 16.57 mt
At the south of Ghat Bazar, left bank of the Daha Gad a huge exposure of greenish grey
competent Phyllite and quartzite consisting green leaching is clearly observed (Fig.26
and Fig.27) This place was an old working copper mine according to local people. The
green leaching is the cause of malachite staining. Two samples were collected from this
location (sample no.77 and 78). Some old workings of copper mines are present at Ghat
and southeast of Limsa village. To access of the economic deposit and to understand
the genesis of the Copper mineralization, further study is required
Fig. 25: Detail columnar section at the Dhaukhani showing hematite bands intercalated
with greenish grey ferruginous phyllite. The columnar section obtained from route map
across the foot track at Dhaukhani.
Fig. 26: Malachite staining on the surface of competent Phyllite and quartzite (Photo
facing to SE, Location 77).
Fig. 27: Iron rusting and malachite staining on the surface of quartzite (Location 78).
Conclusions
· The iron deposit is hosted by grey to dark grey Phyllite and the hematite bands
are intercalated with greenish grey ferruginous Phyllite.
· The probable reserve of hematite ore body at Dhaukhani is about 8.08 million
tons.
· The prospect area is also potential for copper deposit. Malachite staining on the
surface of quartzite and Phyllite is clearly seen.
· A lot of float boulders of hematite are found at almost all the area below the
Bhoteghareli and west of Chhahare Kholsa.
Recommendations
· The topographic map of the area is 1:50000 scale. It is very complicated to trace
out the iron bands on this map. So one survey map of the leased area should be
prepared.
· The reserve of iron ore is only probable. Some drill hole and trenches are
essential to know the actual thickness and extension of ore bands. The chemical
analysis on the collected samples is necessary to prove the grade of hematite.
· The exploratory drilling or geophycal survey is necessary on the area below the
Silinge School, way to Talkot from Silinge, uphill part of Maina village and
around Gairagau, way to Silinge from Tolkhan.
· To determine the precise amount of copper deposit and its quality further detail
investigation is recommended around Ghat, left and right bank of Daha Gad and
southern area of Limsa.
REFERECNES
UNDP, 1993, Atlas of Mineral Resources of the ESCAP region, volume 9, Geology and
mineral resources of Nepal, United Nations.
Paudel L.P., 2068 BS. Mineral Resources of Nepal: An Analytical study, 135p.
ANNEXES
ANNEX-I