Gold grade variation and stream sediment geochemistry of the Vaimba-Lidi drainage system, northern Cameroon (West Africa)

Stream sediment geochemistry remains a ver-satile tool in exploration especially in regions where knowledge of the primary mineralization is lacking and the exploration activities are still at reconnaissance stage. In this study, we in-vestigate the concentrations of gold and asso-ciated elements in stream sediment samples from the Vaimba-Lidi drainage system in north-ern Cameroon; a relatively remote area where alluvial gold is worked locally, and exploration activities are at early stage. The main river and its principal first and second order tributaries were sampled, panned for gold grain recovery and the 100 μm size fraction analyzed for Au b