ABSTRACT
Since 1977 and intensified since 1981, prospecting activities for economically exploitable mineral resources in the central and southern Red Sea Hills were conducted primarily by the French B.R.G.M. in cooperation with the Geological Research Authority of the Sudan. In connection with these activities, volcanic massive sulfide ore lenses (VMS), located about 220 km WSW of Port Sudan, were found in the early 80's and subsequently developed to today's Ariab Mining District (AMD). The base metal massive sulfide lenses of the AMD are strata bound and folded constituents of the upper Proterozoic ensimatic Ariab-Nakasib foldbelt which marks a suture zone within the Arabian Nubian Shield of NE-Africa. The fabric of the massive sulfide mineralisation at AMD is essentially metamorphic and is typified on one side by the coarse grained cataclastic pyrites, on the other by the schlieren texture of the ore, especially when recristallized sphalerite and chalcopyrite predominate.
