2022 Volume 26 Issue 3-4 Pages 53-64
This study focused on elaborating geochemical maps of clay materials in the Babouri-Figuil basin (North Cameroon) in order to evaluate the raw material for use in the manufacture of clinker. Particle size distribution, X-Ray diffraction, X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and alumina-iron ratio (AR) were used in order to determine the quality of the raw material. Surf software and ArcGIS constituted the software used in elaborating the geochemical maps. The maps revealed two main types of sediments in the study area which include claystones (sandy clay and argillite) and fine limestones. The particles of claystones are essentially constituted of fine under 20 µm. Their bulk of mineralogical composition is constituted of kaolinite (22.4–25.8%), smectite (9.2–13.8%), calcite (10.3–12.1%), quartz (44.0–46.8%), feldspar (3.2–4.6%), which are the most predominant minerals; while chlorite (1.2–2.8%), hematite (1.7–2.3%) and goethite (1.7–2.3%) are accessories. These claystones have 21.13 to 58.31% of SiO2, 7.51 to 21.88% of Al2O3 and 4.61 to 12.98% of Fe2O3. Alkali and alkaline earth oxides (CaO, MgO, K2O and Na2O) have weak contents with the exception of CaO (0.68–8.38%) whose relative high content is linked to the presence of limestones in the field. All these properties show that these clays studied in the Babouri-Figuil basin are suitable raw materials for manufacturing of clinker. The extension of clays with good AR (1.3< AR<2.0) is 45 out of 69 blocks, which cover 65% of the study area. This justifies why cement factories exploit these clays.
