Geological, geochemical and geophysical approach to determine structural element of gold-bearing vein in metamorphic hosted rock at Batu Melintang, Jeli, Kelantan

Batu Melintang, which is located in Jeli, Kelantan is well-known for its gold occurrences as the location is part of Bentong-Raub suture zone which covers area with high potential for gold mining. It is also part of Central Gold Belt in West Coast Malaysia. Most of the gold mineral in the study area is found as placer deposit based on previous study of stream sediment that showed the high gold potential. However, the study on the quartz-vein system of mesothermal gold deposits in Kelantan is not sufficient. It is believed that the gold mineralization in Batu Melintang occurred along the shear zone on intrusive bodies. This research was done to understand the mesothermal gold-bearing vein better and its relationship with the subsurface fracture pattern by using several methods such as geochemical method, fire assay following Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS) and geophysical method; Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI). The geophysical method is done at the area of detected gold intensity based on the result obtained from the geochemical method. The detected gold intensity value in the quartz veins within Batu Melintang is ranged from 0.01 to 0.47 ppm. The Mangga Formation and Telong Formation displays a strongly deformed structure with N-S, NNW-SSE and NE-SW structural trending. The geological structures exposed in Batu Melintang defines the study area as the brittle-ductile shear zone, indicating a high potential of gold mineralization area. Overall, the subsurface structure shows the same geological features as the surface structure. Most of the subsurface structure shows a highly fracture zone with a low angle fracture plane. The determination of gold intensity shows the location of high-intensity gold in the northern and southwestern parts of the study area. It defines the structural element in terms of vein size influences the gold intensity value. The formation of large vein size represents a high gold value present in the particular area. The result shows that the large vein size in the study area indicated high gold intensity value which is significant for future gold exploration.