Metallic Ores in North Africa: New Results and Achievements in the Post-2016 Era

In this chapter, new data about selected metallic ore deposits in North Africa are presented. They concentrate on new researches in the post-2016 era that witnessed remarkable interest of North African and international researchers to characterize the mineralogy, geochemistry, and ore genesis of a variety of ores in different geological environments and host rocks after the textbook by Bouabdallah and Slack (2016). Also, the chapter sheds light on the most significant lithological and structural controls of mineralizations that range in age from Archean to late Cenozoic. New information up to 2021 are presented and they are based on combined field criteria, mineral chemistry, geochemistry, stable isotopes, fluid inclusions, and ore genetic models. Metallic ores discussed in the chapter are hosted by either igneous-metamorphic or sedimentary rocks that display significant roles of hydrothermal alterations viz. metasomatism and post-depositional processes such as diagenesis and karstification. For some specific ores, precise age determination based on modern techniques such as ion microprobe U–Pb is presented for the ore minerals or associated accessory minerals in the mineralized zones and in the unaltered host rocks as well.