A Case Study of Phosphorite Investigation in Jhabua District, Madhya Pradesh, India: By Barefoot Geologist

Abstract

The Jhabua phosphorite is the second largest deposit in India after the famous Jhamerkotra deposit of Rajasthan. Though geographically they are separated by state boundaries but geologically they belong to the same domain. The Jhabua deposit is hosted with in the Proterozoic meta-sediments of Aravalli Supergroup. The host litho-units for the stromatolite bearing phosphate mineralization are limestone and chert. The limestone is siliceous in nature and has large variation in terms of impurities and grades to dolomite. The phosphate content is higher in cherts compared to limestone. The stromatolites are the important field guides to locate the phosphate mineralization. But need of geochemical investigation method arises in locating the non stromatolite bearing rock phosphate mineralization. The paper demonstrates very vividly the methodology of exploration for rock phosphate mineralization. This can be seen here as how the basic and conventional techniques of exploration are effectively utilized to first locate the geochemical anomalies on the ground followed by drilling the anomalies and establishing the resources. This is significant here to observe that no state of art technology has been used here during the entire course of exploration, in establishing the resources. This is to underline the importance of conventional exploration techniques which is getting a beating by the frequent use of AI in geology. This case study demonstrates as how the time tested conventional methods are still very much valid and can yield fruitful results if utilized meticulously.