South valley university suggestions for utilizing the mineral resources at

the golden triangle area (TG)

Associate Professor Dr. Hesham A. H. IsmaielAssociate Prof. of Engineering Geology and Soil Mechanics

Geology Department, Faculty of Science, South Valley University

Contents:

1- Introduction2- Mineral resources 3- South valley university suggestions4- Applied research projects

1- Introduction

- Golden triangle area (Qena – Safaga – Quseir) is considered from the poorest provinces in Upper Egypt, though it contains a lot of natural resources, agricultural land and economic ores and metals which are not exploited properly and scientifically yet.

1- Introduction

- In this presentation we highlight some of these natural resources and facilities available for the development of the province, through the display of the two axes of mining and industrial development.

1- Introduction

- The presentation shows south valley university suggestions including number of applied research projects like oil shale, subsurface phosphate, construction materials and other development projects.

1- Introduction

Location map of the GT- area shows the main Wadis.

2- Mineral resources

- The mineral resources at the GT are Industrial Minerals (like phosphate, limestone, gypsum, etc), Dimension and Building Stone (like Granite, Marble, Gravels and sands), Metals (like gold, silver, platinum, copper, lead, zinc, copper, rare metals like tantalum and niobium, iron ore, tin, and others as well as precious stones (like Aquamarine and Emerald).

2- Mineral resources

- The region is contains many important economic materials like phosphate - limestone – marl - shale - sand and gravel - granite – marble - quartz - talc - serpentine - Fluorite - gold and other economic materials, additionally the recent studies indicates a presence of about 8 billion barrels of oil shale.

2- Mineral resources

Phosphate- There are large quantities of phosphate in the region

along the Nile Valley (like Gabal Abouhd - Gabal Serail - Gabal Algir – Wadi Hamama and along the Red Sea coast (like Hamrawein - Younis - Gabal Dawi – Albida area and others). Average of P2O5 ranging from 20 to 22%. Reserve up to more than 1,000 million tones.

- Recent studies indicates a presence of a large amounts of subsurface phosphate intercalated with oil shale at the area especially at Wadi Alnakhil.

2- Mineral resources

Limestone- There are huge amounts of various limestone types (chalky

Limestone – Marley limestone – Crystalline limestone - and Organic limestone).

- Limestone distributes east of the Nile Valley from Qus to the north of Qena such as Gabal Abouhd and Gabal Aarrass with an average thickness of about 50 meters and Gabal Algir 15 km east of Qift and covers an area of 35 square kilometers with an average thickness of 70 meters. Eocene limestone distributes along the Nile Valley from the east and west sides across the Qena and along the Red Sea coast like Gabal Dawi with an average thickness of about 200 meters.

2- Mineral resources

Shale- There are large amounts of the shale like

Upper Cretaceous/Paleocene shale (Dakhla Formation) as well as Paleocene/Eocene shale (Esna Shale F.) with a large thickness along both Nile Valley at Qena and along the Red Sea coast like Gabal Dawi. As well as Quaternary shale which occur at South of Wadi Qena.

2- Mineral resources

Sands and Gravels- There are large amounts of a good quality

Quaternary Sands and Gravels distributed along the East and West of the Nile Valley at Qena, and along the Qena - Safaga and Qift – Quseir and the desert western roads. There are Gravels Quarries only at Quseir and there are no Sands quarries that due to they contain a high concentration of salts.

2- Mineral resources

Granit, Marble and Green Breccia- Green Breccia is very hard basement rock having

beautiful colors, it uses as ornamental stones for decoration such as marble. It occurs along Qift – Quseir road (about 70 km east of Qena) and Qena Safaga road.

- Granite is also basement rock having pink color (Younger) and gray color (Older), it occurs along both Qift – Quseir road (especially 90 km east of Qift at Alfwakhir area) and Qena – Safaga road.

2- Mineral resources

Quartz, Talc and Fluorite- There are many important mineral

resources in the Red Sea mountains of the basement rocks east of Qena, which contain quartz, talc and Fluorite especially at Wadi Atta Alla along Qift – Quseir road and surrounding areas. They need to further study and evaluation.

2- Mineral resources

Gold- Gold occurs at the area in different location like

Alfwakhir region (90 km east of Qena) along the Qift – Queir road. The Alfwakhir mine is the oldest gold mines in Egypt, where it was used by Pharaohs then by the British during the occupation, it is believed that the surface quantities may be depleted fairly and that there is a large reserve subsurface, the region needs an exploratory program using indirect geophysical tools and direct drilling tools and extraction of the core samples to assess the reserves and quality .

2- Mineral resources

- Mining and industry development at GT-area need to develop water resources, energy and infrastructures.

3- South valley university suggestions

1- Establishment of fertilizer (like tri super phosphate) and phosphoric acid plants, which is the raw material for several other industries. Establishment of an industrial city in Wadi Allakita closer to phosphate ore.

3- South valley university suggestions

Geological map of Allakita area Wadi Allakita

3- South valley university suggestions

2- Establishment other cement factories where the region has huge quantities of limestone, shale and marl which are essential components of the cement industry, at Qena – Safaga road (Gabal Alkriya) and South Wadi Qena (Gabal Abouhd).

3- South valley university suggestions

Topographical map of Gabal Alkriya and Gabal AbouHad south Wadi Qena

3- South valley university suggestions

3- Establishment of an industrial city for cutting and polishing granite and marble coming from Aswan and the Eastern desert rather than be transferred to Cairo (Shik Althoban).

3- South valley university suggestions

4- Establishment of ceramic and flagstone factories where there are huge amounts of serpentine (along Qift – Quseir road) and shale as well as the proximity of the ball clay (Ceramic clay) coming from Wadi Abossberh (Aswan) instead of transport to Cairo.

3- South valley university suggestions

5- Establishment of ready-mixed concrete mixers, which depend on high quality sands and gravels along the Qift - Quseir and Qena - Safaga roads as well as the western desert road and Wadi Gardi. As well as concrete blocks and pipes factories.

3- South valley university suggestions

6- Establishment of Paints factories that depend on iron oxide coming from Aswan and Western Desert instead of transport to Cairo.

7- Establishment of manufacturing plants to purify and increase the silica concentration in the white sands coming from North of Wadi Qena which closer to the region, especially after the construction of the new Upper Egypt - Red Sea road.

4- Applied research projects

1- Oil shale and subsurface phosphate project2- Crushed Nubian Sandstones project3- Wadi Qena and Wadi Girdi Gravels quarries

project4- Reuse of cement kiln dust and re-evaluation

and treatment of highways in Upper Egypt

1- Oil shale and subsurface phosphate project

• Scope: Evaluation of both oil shale and subsurface phosphate and development a new economic method for extracting at Quseir area especially Wadi Alnakhil

• Previous researches: Many of previous researches which carried out on the area to evaluate oil shale and subsurface phosphate in the Upper Cretaceous/Lower Tertiary Succession.

1- Oil shale and subsurface phosphate project

• Egyptian researchers like Moustafa and Ghali 1964, Khalid et al, 1987, Alkmar 1990 and 1993 and others.

• German researchers like Robison and Troger 1983, Troger 1984, Ganz 1984, Temraz 2005 and others.

• They pointed to occur a huge quantity of oil shale and subsurface phosphate at Quseir – Safaga area with different qualities and at different depths, like at Zok Albhar, Yunis, Wasif, Gabal Dawi, Aboshkila, Nasir and Abdndb as well as Wadi Alnakhil.

1- Oil shale and subsurface phosphate project

Oil shale properties in GT:• Caloric value ranging from 705 to 2360 kcal• Global economic limit is 750 kcal • The amount of total organic carbon in the

range from 22 to 42%• About 8 million barrels of oil expected

presence

1- Oil shale and subsurface phosphate project

Suggested locations:

Distribution of oil shale at Quseir – Safaga area.

1- Oil shale and subsurface phosphate project

From the previous studied, we selected three important locations for the project:

• Wadi Alnakhil: TOC= 32%• Wasif: TOC= 42%• Nasir and Abotandob: TOC= 26%

1- Oil shale and subsurface phosphate project

1- Oil shale and subsurface phosphate project

Work group The project protocol between:1- South Valley University (Main researcher)2- Egyptian Sudi Arabian company (Risko) (The

main financier)3- Petroleum Research Institute4- Metallurgical Research Institute

1- Oil shale and subsurface phosphate project

The project divided into two stages:• First stage including subsurface exploration,

evaluation and extraction of the first Oil barrel (timetable 6 moths)

• Second stage including the economic utilization.

2- Crushed Nubian Sandstones project

2- Crushed Nubian Sandstones project• Idea: Export huge amounts of sands (crushed

sandstone) to South East Asian countries for using in filling and supporting operations of the shores. There is a huge amount of Nubian sandstones group exposed at Qena - Safaga and Qeft – Quseir roads as well as at Gabal Dawi.

• Quantity: billions tons• Time: 20 -30 years• Utilization: employ a large number of Upper

Egyptians.

3- Wadi Qena and Wadi Girdi Gravels quarries project

Geological map

3- Wadi Qena and Wadi Girdi Gravels quarries project

Wadi Girdi Gravels

3- Wadi Qena and Wadi Girdi Gravels quarries project

- Quaternary gravels in both Wadi Qena and Wadi Girdi were studied.

- The results showed the presence of large amounts of gravels which estimated at about 70 to 105 million square meters at Wadi Gardi and about 90 to 135 million square meters at Wadi Qena.

3- Wadi Qena and Wadi Girdi Gravels quarries project

• Wadi Girdi gravels suitable for road construction, concrete and asphalt mixtures.

• Wadi Qena gravels suitable only for road construction and asphalt mixtures and not suitable for concrete, that due to occurrence a high present of chloride and sulfates.

4- Reuse of cement kiln dust and re-evaluation and treatment of highways in Upper Egypt

Firstly: Introduction and description of the project:• This project is consistent with the mission and

vision of Faculty of Science Qena and South Valley University which need to apply scientific research to serve the community of upper Egypt linking the scientific research with industrial enterprises surrounding in Upper Egypt also comes this project to serve national priorities to Egypt in sustainable development and the development upper Egypt.

4- Reuse of cement kiln dust and re-evaluation and treatment of highways in Upper Egypt

Secondly: Scopes of the project:1- The purpose of this applied research project to

re-use waste material of cement plants (Cement Kiln Dust) where that is an economical and an environmental solution of this problem. Cement kiln dust as by-product can be used to treat and stabilized the expansive soil (problematic soil). The expansive soils occurred in the Upper Egypt as arid region in several places under the asphalt layer of the highways.

4- Reuse of cement kiln dust and re-evaluation and treatment of highways in Upper Egypt

2- Correction and change the direction and the location of the serious sectors of the Upper Egypt – Red Sea road after re-evaluation of these sectors using georadar (GPR) and shallow seismic survey methods.

4- Reuse of cement kiln dust and re-evaluation and treatment of highways in Upper Egypt

Thirdly: Methods:• 1- Subsurface exploration method using both ground penetrating

radar (GPR) to determine the quality of the compaction of the fills soils under the asphalt layer especially at the greater depth and to discover the possible small caves and large voids under the road to avoid its collapse.

• 2- Geotechnical laboratory program including classification and description of the cement kiln dust from different cement factories in Upper Egypt and measuring the geotechnical parameters of the expansive problematic soils before and after the treatment using cement kiln dust to determine the best type of cement kiln dusts which use for chemical stabilization.

• 3- Analysis and interpretation of the result (field and lab results) using special scientific software like GGU and others geotechnical software.

4- Reuse of cement kiln dust and re-evaluation and treatment of highways in Upper Egypt

Fourthly: Timetable: The project needs to 18 months as the following:• Field work, subsurface exploration using geo-radar

and shallow seismic methods (6 months)• Geotechnical laboratory program for chemical

stabilization using cement kiln dust (6 months)• Analysis of the results and interpretation,

recommendations, publication of at least one paper in international journal with impact factor

(6 months)