TAJE RES 2022 0129.R1 - Proof - Hi

Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
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Gold placer characteristics in marine sediments of Bayah

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waters, West Java, Indonesia
Journal: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
Manuscript ID TAJE-RES-2022-0129.R1
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Manuscript Type: Research Paper
Date Submitted by the

n/a
Author:
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Complete List of Authors: Kurnio, Hananto; BRIN, Research Center for Georesources
Dahlan, Yuhelda; National Research and Innovation Agency Republic of
Indonesia
Kanily, Jaeysen
gold placer, marine sediments, Bayah, Indonesian Waters,

Keywords:
characteristics, study case
URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/taje
Page 1 of 37 Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
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4 Gold placer characteristics in marine sediments of
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Bayah waters, West Java, Indonesia
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9 By :
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11 Hananto Kurnio1) , Yuhelda 2) and Jaeysen Kanily3)
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13 1) National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Research Organization Earth Sciences and
14 Maritime, Research Center for Geological Resources, hana013@brin.go.id (correspondence email)
15 2) National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Research Organization Nano and Advanced
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Materials, Research Center for Mining Technology, yuhe001@brin.go.id
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18 3) PT Graha Makmur Coalindo (GMC), grahamakmurcoalindo@gmail.com
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21 Abstract
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The gold placer prospects in marine sediments of Indonesian Waters, especially in Bayah
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25 southwest of Java Island – Banten Province, have many unique characteristics. In Bayah’s coastal
26 waters, gold mostly accumulates in very fine sands (grain sizes 0.125 to 0.0625 millimeters);
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27 results of ore mineral analysis shows that its high contents were associated with high magnetic
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29 minerals; it spreads in all types of marine sediments but coarse sediments such as sand and gravel
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30 tend to have higher Au contents; it is derived from Late Oligocene dacite of Cihara Granodiorite
31 formed at a subduction zone environment (about 33.9 to 23 million years ago) which outcropped
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at coastal zone and possibly seafloor of Bayah. Efforts of gold exploitation from marine sediments
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34 had been started with trial that had been carried out in the coastal water of Bayah using local
35 fisherman’s boat. The success trial had led to massive pumping up of the bottom sediments into a
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deck cargo ship capacity 13.103 metric tons and brought to the stockpiling facility and mineral
processing laboratory. Laboratory studies also revealed that in general the secondary gold occurred
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39 as flakes of silt size (0.002 to 0.05 mm). Further study relate to processing is being prepared by
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the second and third authors.
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43 Key words: gold placer, characteristics, marine sediments, Bayah, study case, Indonesian Waters.
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Australian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 2 of 37
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3 Introduction
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Exploration studies for gold placer have been conducted in many places. Chile in western coastal
7 zone of South America - the same subduction related geological condition with the research area
8 of Bayah Indonesia – had performed the study. In this country, exploration studies had been carried
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out for this precious metal in the Coastal Range of south-central Chile (Stange et al., 2018). Based
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11 on geochemical results, this region shows the characteristics of high gold contents in sediments
12 (up to 24 ppm Au and 8 ppm Ag) and low Au contents in the rocky outcrops (757 and 41 ppb).
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The sediments were deposited in depressions reaching up to 170 m-deep which are encouraging
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15 for deposition of gold placer. This exploration study results are used for Chile’s future exploration
16 strategies.
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18 This paper tries to discuss all works especially relate to exploration studies that has been done for
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marine gold placer in Indonesian seas (Marine Geological Institute - MGI, 1996; Kurnio et al.,
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21 1998; Kurnio and Sukmana, 1999; Kurnio and Hersenanto, 2007, 2008; and Kurnio and Aryanto,
22 2010) which was culminated with exploitation trial and massive pump up of marine sediment in
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Bayah’s coastal water area – southwest of Java Island, Banten Province (Figure 1); before being
25 process further to extract its gold contents.
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27 Through study of many gold deposit occurrences in coastal zones, we make hypothesis that
28 secondary or placer gold is possibly deposited in the coastal waters in the vicinities of its primary
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30 deposits. This hypothesis was first tested in Semangko Bay South Sumatra, Tanggamus Regency,
31 Lampung Province (Marine Geological Institute – MGI, 1989). Gold content analysis of the marine
32 sediment acquired at the bay revealed 0.5 to 1.5 ppm – part per million.
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For Indonesia, marine gold placer discovered in Semangko Bay was the first (Hadikusumo et al.,
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36 1990). The discovery was based on secondary data study of geological condition in coastal zone
37 surrounding the bay, as well as its mineral prospects, from Geological Agency. There are many
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private gold mining companies in Semangko Bay operated until now such as PT Natarang Mining
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40 and Way Linggo Mine. Gold was also identified occurred in submarine landslide materials in this
41 bay (Kurnio, 1994).
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43 The first discovery then was followed up by detail research in 1996 (MGI, 1996). The research
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was carried out through systematic sea-bottom sediment sampling utilizing gravity corer and grab
46 sampler with one - kilometer interval for the locations. Sampling sea-depths were restricted below
47 50 m based on consideration of exploitation capability of sea-mining ships. Total 177 sediment
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samples were taken in Semangko Bay consisted of 153 by gravity corer and grab sampler using
50 local fisherman’s ship and 24 obtained in coastal areas in the vicinities of river mouths; thus, the
51 placer gold research was conducted at offshore and coastal areas. After the research was
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accomplished in this bay, other researches were carried out in other places such as Bayah (Kurnio
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54 and Hersenanto, 2007 and 2008) and Singkawang coastal waters (Kurnio and Aryanto, 2010).
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3 After many considerations such as the distance of mining sites to company processing facilities,
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5 Bayah was selected as the first marine gold exploitation area in Indonesia.
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7 The word placer was derived from Spanish which means “alluvial sand”. Placer itself is an
8 accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation from a specific source rock during
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sedimentary processes (Gerhard and Pat, 2006). Gold derived from placer mining was the main
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11 source of gold in the early times. Other characteristics of placers are dense, resistant to weathering
12 processes and have specific gravity greater than 2.58 (Gerhard and Pat, 2006).
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14 In the marine environment, the placer deposit’s origin is closely related to changes in sea level
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16 during Lower Quaternary or Pleistocene glacio-eustacy started about 1.8 million years ago (1.8
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17 m.y.). During the low sea level of glacial phases, gold fluviatile placer deposits were deposited in
18 the inner shelf; the following process of regenerated fluviatile erosion accumulated this heavy
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mineral deposited behind sediments (Kudrass, 2000). Hou et al. (2017) further noted that coastal
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21 sediments enriched in placer deposits were deposited in laminated or lens-shaped packages up to
22 tens of meters thick. Preservation together with subsidence of these deposits through million years
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of geological timeframe resulted in the formation of placer deposits. Sea-level changes that result
25 in either marine transgression (shoreline migrating inland) or marine regression (seaward
26 migrating) were burying or abandoning earlier deposits or modifying them to form younger
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accumulations.
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30 Gold characteristics in coastal waters area was mainly identified through study results by Clifton
31 et al. (1967), and first author previous researches in Bayah (Figure 1) and other Indonesian seas.
32 Clifton et al. studied marine black deposits in the western coastal waters of USA, Oregon area, to
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33 know its origin as well as its resource potential. This coastal water area is resemblance with Bayah
34 – southwest of Java Island Indonesia where its coastal sediments are derived from denudation
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processes of volcanic belt belongs to the Asia-Pacific “Ring of Fire” that extends from eastern
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Pacific Ocean to the north-northeast Indian Ocean. Bayah is located at tropical region where
physical and chemical weathering are more intense than Oregon that influenced by four seasons.
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39 These climate differences influence the characteristics of gold yields in Bayah and Oregon.
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41 Clifton et al. (1967) further noticed that marine gold placer has values that do not represent its
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initial sample. This problem results from a particle sparsity effect where the analysis for gold in
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44 each sample depends more upon the occurrence of random gold flakes in the analyzed section
45 rather than upon the actual gold content of the sample. Analysis through weighted concentrate
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containing all gold would be suggested to remove this particle sparsity effect problem. Besides
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48 sample preparation techniques mentioned above, usage of heavy liquid to separate gold into a
49 heavy and a light fraction is suggested.
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51 Clifton et al. (1967) were based their study on more than 2000 beach, offshore, marine terrace and
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53 alluvial sand samples. They discovered that gold in almost every marine and beach sand
54 concentrates occurs in the nonmagnetic fraction smaller than 0.124 mm and specific gravity greater
55 than 3.3. Gold flakes in beach sands are mostly 0.010 to 0.020 mm thick and 0.060 to 0.090 mm
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3 in diameter; and a single flake in a gram of sand represents approximately 1 ppm (part per million).
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5 This very fine gold, from miner’s view, is a typical flour gold. In a Troy ounce, some authors do
6 not have agreements on how many gold flakes could be found; Ingersoll (1932) proposed 885,000
7 particles, Hite (1933) mentioned 10 million particles, while Clifton et al. suggested 31 million
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9 particles.
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11 Due to its extremely high specific gravity (15 -19), gold grains are much smaller than its
12 hydraulically equivalent sediment grains. It is possibly due to its inequivalent hydraulic behavior
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with sediment grains, gold mostly occurs in the smaller than 0.124 mm fraction. Clifton et al.
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15 (1967) also noted that the offshore sediment containing gold, its sizes are not depended on the
16 distance from its original gold source. Detrital gold deposited at more than tens of kilometers or a
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few kilometers from its source in the coastal areas is everywhere smaller than 0.124 mm or
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19 according to Wentworth sediment size scale belongs to very fine sand. This very fine sand itself
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20 has grain size range between 0.0625 to 0.125 mm.
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22 Gold placer study in coastal waters of Indonesian areas had been carried out (Kurnio et al., 1998;
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Kurnio and Sukmana, 1999). The areas were Ujung Genteng – Southwest Java, Bakauheni –
25 Lampung – South Sumatra, Kapuas River Mouth – West Kalimantan, Semangko Bay – Lampung
26 – South Sumatra, Pulau Laut – South Kalimantan, Padang Baai – Bengkulu – West Sumatra,
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Pelabuhan Ratu Bay – Southwest Java, Bone Bay – South Sulawesi, Blongas Sepi Bay – South
29 Lombok – Lesser Sunda Islands and Padang – West Sumatra. More recent studies were conducted
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30 in Bayah – South Banten Province by Kurnio and Hersenanto (2007 and 2008), Kamiludin et al.
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(2007); and Singkawang West Kalimantan Province by Kurnio and Aryanto (2010).
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34 Gold placer indications in Bayah coastal waters are identified at the seafloor, coastal and river
35 sediments (Kurnio and Hersenanto, 2007). In this area gold mostly accumulates in very fine sands.
36 Contrary with Clifton et al study, results of ore mineral analysis shows that high content of gold
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and silver in sediments were associated with high magnetic minerals. Contents of Au range
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39 between 0.4 and 1.8 ppm and Ag 6.8 and 7.8 ppm; while Fe 38.54 and 48.64% and copper (Cu)
40 17 and 18 ppm. Subsurface golds based on coastal area drilling data between 9 to 14 meters below
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seafloor its content range between 0.4 and 1.8 ppm. Panning of surficial beach sands at 13 locations
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43 found out that gold contents range between 0,2 and 0,8 ppm.
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45 Marine gold placer in Bayah Waters spreads in sediment types of sand, slightly gravelly sand,
46 gravelly sand, muddy sand, sandy mud, slightly gravelly muddy sand and slightly gravelly sandy
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48 mud (Kurnio and Hersenanto, 2008). Coarse sediments such as sand, slightly gravelly sand and
49 gravelly sand tend to have higher Au contents (0.1 – 1.58 ppm) than fine sediments of clay, mud
50 and silt (0.14 – 0.6 ppm). On the other hand, longshore current in coastal water of Bayah swept
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52 away gold from the west to the headland bay morphology in the east east which is then trapped
53 (Surachman and Widjaksana, 1992). The trapped gold content in coastal and marine sediments in
54 this area is up to 10 ppm.
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3 Gold extraction from Bayah coastal sediment had been carried out by Kamiludin et al. (2007)
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5 through amalgamation process lows, 6 to 71 ppb. Greater gold contents were obtained from greater
6 origin sample weight even at the same concentrate weights.
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37 Figure 1. Research area (Source : google maps).
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39 The secondary gold in Bayah’s coastal waters is derived from Cihara Granodiorite (Hartono et al.,
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2008). This unit is outcropped at coastal zone and possibly seafloor of Bayah.
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43 Methods
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45 Data used in this study some from published papers of the research area by the first author and the
46 others from the company before the exploitation trial. The company data was taken at government
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permit area of Bayah’s coastal waters – southwest of Java Island (Figure 2). The data includes
49 seafloor sediments collected by divers in 50 seafloor locations at sea depths between 25 and 60 m
50 and stored in 1 m PVC tubes. The sediments in the cores were then analyzed its gold content using
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flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS).
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54 The exploitation trial was done using local fisherman’s boat by pumping up bottom sediments
55 from the seafloor. The pumped sediments were put into sluice box equipped with carpet to trap the
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3 placer gold, while the tailing was flowed back to the seafloor. The success trial had led to the
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5 massive pumping up of the bottom sediments into a deck cargo ship and brought to the stockpiling
6 facility and some to mineral processing laboratory. Mostly, gold placer characterization was done
7 in the laboratory of the company and analytical used are company’s portable XRF – Thermo
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9 scientific and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP OES) in the
10 Laboratory of National Research and Innovation Agency BRIN.
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34 Figure 2. Seafloor sediment sampling locations at mining concession area.
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38 Bayah area - southwest of Java has been chosen for exploitation trial (Putra, 2019) and has been
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40 permitted to be explored and exploited based on concession permit Number 541.3/06-
41 DESDM.IUP OP/III/2018 issued by Directorate General of Mineral and Coal, Ministry of Energy
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42 and Mineral Resources (Figure 1). The concession covers 1,972 hectares located in the coastal
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44 waters of Pangarangan and Bayah, Lebak Regency, Banten Province. The permit that was given
45 in the 4th May 2018 will be ended at the same date in 2028. The stage is production activity and
46 the targeted commodity is gold.
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Massive bottom sediments pumping was done after exploitation trial successfully identified gold
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50 nuggets in the sluice box equipped with carpet in the fisherman’s boat. The pumped sediments
51 were put into deck cargo ship OMS Bromo with death weight ton (DWT) 13.103 tons, length
52 127.73 meters and width 26 meters (Figure 3) and stockpile in company’s coastal facility. Some
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54 samples were taken to the laboratory facility to be processed to obtain its gold flakes and grains.
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3 Sample analysis of Bayah’s marine sediments were done in the Laboratory of Nuclear Minerals
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5 Technology, Directorate of Laboratory Management, Research Facilities, and Regional Science
6 Technology, Deputy of Infrastructure and Innovation, National Research and Innovation Agency.
7 The analysis was applied Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-
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9 OES) and Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) used 006.003/TBGN.
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13 To better understand characteristics of marine gold placer, a processing method had been
14 implemented. It was consisted of capturing gold flakes through tilted sluice box equipped with
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16 metal plates (stainless steel) painted with mercury and the sediment-water mixture was pumped
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17 and recycled many times for about two hours.
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19 Results
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21 The following Table 1 shows gold placer spread in marine sediment types of Bayah. The placer
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occurs in Sand, slightly gravelly Sand, gravelly Sand, muddy Sand, slightly gravelly muddy Sand,
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24 sandy Mud and slightly gravelly sandy Mud. Five megascopic description sand sediment samples
25 were analyzed its gold contents. One sample described as coral reef had gold content 0.22, and it
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was possibly trapped in its porous surface. Gold placer occurred in coarse marine sediments of
28 sand are more abundant (88.64%) than in fine sediments of mud (11.36%).
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30 Table 1. Gold placer contents in marine sediments (data source : Kurnio and Hersenanto, 2008).
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32 NO SEDIMENT SAMPLE GOLD Au NOTES
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33 TYPES AMOUNT (44) CONTENTS AVERAGE

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(classification & (ppm) (ppm)
36 based on Folk, PERCENTAGE
37 1980)
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38 1 Sand (S) 11 & 25% 0.1 – 1.58 0.513

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2 Slightly gravelly 6 & 13.6% 0.15 – 0.8 0.352
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41 Sand ((g)S)
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42 3 Gravelly Sand (gS) 1 & 2.27% 0.3 0.3

43 4 Muddy Sand (mS) 13 & 29.5% 0.13 – 0.4 0.224
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5 Slightly gravelly 2 & 4.54% 0.15 – 0.25 0.2
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46 muddy Sand
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48 6 Sandy Mud (sM) 4 & 9.09% 0.14 – 0.6 0.285
49 7 Slightly gravelly 1 & 2.27% 0.4 0.4
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51 sandy Mud ((g)sM)
52 8 Sand 5 & 11.36% 0.1 – 0.9 0.4 Megascopic
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54 9 Coral 1 & 2.27% 0.22 0.22 Coral reef
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3 Results of seafloor sediment pumping to the cargo ship of 13.013 metric tons capacity was only
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5 1.707 metric tons remained. This is possibly accidentally flowing away during transportation to
6 stock filing location and compaction and it’s only about 13% of the ship capacity, the others about
7 87% loss. Megascopic description the sediment type is fine sand, of brownish gray color,
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9 moderately sorted, sometime were found igneous rock fragments (granodiorite) and shell
10 fragments; and the sample was in dry condition.
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Figure 3. Uploading of seafloor sediments into deck cargo ship (Source : PT Graha Makmur
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39 Coalindo).
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41 Analysis results of gold contents in the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)
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42 laboratory was obtained 36 to 183.5 ppm. The high contents of gold possibly were derived from
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44 samples after transportation and compaction in the stockpile location which were not represented
45 the real sediment conditions on the seafloor of Bayah’s coastal water.
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47 The capturing of gold flakes through tilted sluice box method which applied 20 kilograms bulk
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sample was obtained gold flakes 2.560 grams (Figure 4). Gold flakes observed in the box appeared
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50 as small particles of silt size or 0.002 to 0.05 millimeters according to Wentworth grain size scale.
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23 Figure 4. Gold obtained (2.560 grams) after processing of 20 kilograms bulk sample using tilted
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24 sluice box in the laboratory.

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26 Rare earth elements analysis of Bayah’s marine samples at BRIN laboratory using ICP OES (Table
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28 2) show abundances of heavy REE (Dy), light REE (La, Ce, Nd) and middle REE (Eu, Gd). The
29 most abundance REE in the research area is cerium (Ce – 18.72 to 866.37 ppm). Review of cerium
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30 content in the source rocks of the nearby terrestrial areas show its contents in basalt (0.87 ppm), in
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basaltic andesitic (21.81 ppm), in quartz-diorite (25.05 ppm), in granodiorite (21.71 ppm) and in
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33 granite (22.34 ppm) (Hartono et al., 2008). Comparison of Ce contents either in seafloor sediments
34 or in source rocks, it is obvious that the seafloor sediments experience multiply cerium
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enrichments, it’s at about 40 times than the source rocks. This is possibly due to long time
37 denudation process experienced by the source rocks before its cerium content is deposited in
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38 Bayah’s coastal waters.

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40 Cerium is the most common of the lanthanides or rare earth elements and it is also the 25th most
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abundant element of the Earth’s crust (Johansson et al., 2014). Although cerium is noticed belongs
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43 to rare-earth metals, it’s occurrences in earth crust is 66 ppm just behind copper (68 ppm) and
44 much more abundant than lead (13 ppm) and tin (2.1 ppm). Compared to others REE, cerium is
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46 the easiest to extract from its minerals, monazite and bastnasite. This condition is possibly due to
47 its behavior as the only lanthanide that can reach stable +4 oxidation state in aqueous solution.
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49 Bayah’s marine sediments is also demonstrated by high content of thorium (711,377.125 +/-
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200,000 ppm). This content was obtained through portable XRF examination of concentrate from
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52 20 kg bulk marine sediment. In marine sediments, there are long-lived thorium (Th) isotopes of
53 232Th and 230Th; and short-lived 234Th (Cochran et al., 1986). The short-live thorium content shows
54 relatively little change with depth and values greater than the overlying water. Its distribution is
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56 controlled by a sorption equilibrium between pore water and the solid phase. On the other hand,
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3 the short-lived 234Th only shows their highest content in the upper 5 cm marine sediment and zero
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5 in the sediment column.
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7 Table 1. Rare earth element contents of Bayah’s seafloor sediments
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9 SAMPLE INSTRUMENT
10 UNCERTAINTY
NO ID – 1848- REE CONTENTS (ppm) (U) DETECTION NOTES
11 LIMIT (IDL)
41089-(1-2)
12 1
13 1 1 Rep 2 Y 65.82 64.92 <IDL 1.27 0.13
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2 1 2 Pr 167.74 145.14 <IDL 0.50 0.10
15 Rep
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3 1 2 Sc 22.25 21.99 6.72 0.46 0.10
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18 4 1 Rep 2 La 412.43 382.92 37.73 0.41 0.12
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5 1 2 Gd 32.66 34.00 6.25 0.37 0.10
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20 Rep
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6 1 Rep 2 Nd 263.30 236.52 <IDL 0.41 0.10 All samples
22 1 were analyzed
23 7 1 2 Ce 866.37 819.04 18.72 0.65 0.10 from
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24 1 stockpiles
8 1 Rep 2 Sm 67.40 74.88 <IDL 0.38 0.10
25 after stored
1 approximately
26 9 1 2 Eu 19.85 19.73 5.14 0.33 0.12
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27 3 years (2019 -
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28 10 1 Rep 2 Tb 22.17 17.54 8.81 0.37 0.09 2022)
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11 1 2 Dy 23.30 22.01 <IDL 0.28 0.10
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30 Rep
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31 12 1 Rep 2 Ho <IDL <IDL <IDL - 0.10
32 1
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33 13 1 Rep 2 Tm <IDL <IDL <IDL - 0.10

34 14 1
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2 Yb <IDL <IDL <IDL - 0.14
35 Rep
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36 15 1 Rep 2 Lu <IDL <IDL <IDL - 0.11
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40 Study of thorium in sediment core collected from Labuan Port – Northern Kalimantan part of
41 Malaysia territory by Hafidz et al. (2014) found out that there was thorium, especially 230Th and
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42 232Th, derived from terrestrial sedimentary rock surrounding the port; while the 228Th was
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44 authigenic origin. The increasing 230Th at the top surface of sediment was interpreted as recent
45 years contribution from anthropogenic sources. In this area, sedimentation rate in the core was
46 obtained through estimation using 228Th / 232Th model and was resulted in high sedimentation rate
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48 of 4.67 cm/year that can be connected to high physical activity in the port. High content of thorium
49 in Bayah’s sample is possibly can be related to anthropogenic sources as this sample was uploaded
50 in cargo ship before being analysis in the laboratory.
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Discussion
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55 As gold occurred in sediment of marine environment, the content of salt (NaCl) certainly will
56 influence the behavior of this precious metal. In Bayah, gold also exists in small size particles; silt
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3 size, which further make its character differs from conventional placer deposits that mostly could
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5 be separated through gravity process. As we shown above, through laboratory scale process
6 applying tilting table to capture gold flakes; it only could be done when the plates – as the bottom
7 of the table – was painted with mercury. Thus, gravity process could not be applied for these tiny
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9 golds; it seems that chemical processes would be suitable. Detail marine gold process would be
10 discussed in detail by the second and third author and it would be the next publication.
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12 To overcome gold sparsity effect in marine sediment, it is necessary to look for samples with high
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gold contents, and for more satisfactory concentrate ready for accurate and multiple analyses;
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15 preparation of a gold concentrate prior to analysis should consisted of a combination of sieve,
16 gravimetric and magnetic separation. Concentrates analysis increase analytical technique
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sensitivity prior to the original sample.
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Gold pan is the most rapid concentrating mechanism for gold and the simplest but precautions
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21 should be considered as potential of operator error is high. It is an impractical method unless done
22 expertly and thoroughly. Panning gold is not appropriate for sediment contain abundances of flour
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gold as occurred for Bayah’s sediment. Controlled riffles might overcome problems faced by using
25 gold pan as this method effectively concentrates heavy minerals as well as gold from sediment,
26 but precise quantitative separation is still a problem as many heavy minerals lost.
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28 Study of Bayah’s gold placer reveals that the prospect for further development is obvious as this
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30 area is located in tropical climate region where physical and chemical weathering are more intense
31 than regions affected by four seasons, such as Oregon USA. The ‘age’ of erosion, transportation
32 and deposition processes of gold deliberated from its primary sources before reaching current
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34 position, 23 million years ago until now, gives more prospect for marine gold placer in this area to
35 be developed further. Other factors such as sea depth less than 100 meters, its association with
36 magnetic minerals –easier for its exploration and the permit concession area closed to the coast of
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Bayah make marine gold placer in this area more feasible. Bayah’s area possibly could be
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38
39 compared with Chile as this country has the same geological condition of subduction related
40 environment. In Chile, exploration studies had been carried out for gold placers in the Coastal
41
Range of south-central Chile (Stange et al., 2018) and found out high gold contents in sediments
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43 that were deposited in depressions. The country future strategies are based on this result.
44
45 The sea company concession area in term of regional geology belongs to Bayah Dome (Figure 5).
46 Bayah Dome is a geological structure and volcanic morphology of Neogene to Quaternary ages
47
48 (23 to 0.01 ma) with its central part consisted of erupted volcanic rocks and a series of andesitic to
49 dacitic shallow intrusive or subvolcanic rocks. Cihara Granodiorite belongs to this series (Hartono
50 et al., 2008). On the other hand, the current morphology was formed by the last tectonic uplift
51
52 process at the Late Pliocene approximately 2.5 million years ago (van Bemmelen, 1949).
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26 Figure 5. Bayah’s dome (Source: google maps).
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Figure 6. Microscopic description of Cihara Granodiorite Bayah (magnification 300 x) (Source:
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56 GMC laboratory).
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1
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3 There is a possibility that some sources of gold and rare earth elements are derived from seafloor
4
5 as well as coast. It seems that transportation by river itself is not the only agent to deliver gold to
6 coastal waters. Cihara granodiorite batholith is possibly the primary source of gold spread at
7 seafloor of Bayah coastal waters as this unit also exposed at Cihara beach. This batholith is of
8
9 Oligo-Miocene age approximately 23 million years. Such long exposure to denudation process in
10 coastal area by marine processes consisted of wave, current and tides could come to the assumption
11 that denudation products that bring along gold and other valuable metals are much spread in coastal
12
13 area as well as at seafloor. Figure 6 shows gold grains in quartz veins of gravel size dacite belongs
14 to Cihara Granodiorite obtained from Bayah’s seafloor sediment. Intense gold exploitation by local
15 residences were reported after storm events (Kurnio and Hersenanto, 2007 and 2008).
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Conclusions
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It can be concluded that gold placer characteristics of Bayah are mostly accumulates in very fine
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21 sands (grain sizes 0.125 to 0.0625 millimeters), associated with high magnetic minerals, occurred
22 in all types of marine sediments but the coarse units tend to have higher Au contents. Flakes of silt
23
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size (0.002 to 0.05 mm) are also observed during laboratory study.
25
26 After many considerations such as the distance of mining sites to company processing facilities,
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27 Bayah was selected as the first marine gold exploitation area in Indonesia. Exploitation trial had
28 been carried out in this area by pumping up bottom sediments and put into sluice box equipped
29
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30 with carpet to trap the placer gold. The success trial had led to pumping up the bottom sediments
31 of the area into a cargo ship. In laboratory scale, the gold placer some are already extracted.
32
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33 Acknowledgements
34
35 The authors would like to thank all stakeholders involve in this research. Special thanks devoted
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37 to Mr Iwan Setiawan Head of Research Center for Geological Resources (RC GR), Organization
research of Geosciences and Maritime, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Mr
On
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39 Anggoro Tri Mursito Acting Head of RC GR during initiation of this research and Mr Rocky
40
41 General Manager and Owner of PT Graha Makmur Coalindo and its Staffs. Thanks also dedicated
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42 to Laboratory of Nuclear Minerals Technology, Directorate of Laboratory Management, Research

43 Facilities, and Regional Science Technology, Deputy of Infrastructure and Innovation, National
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45
Research and Innovation Agency, BRIN; for permission using laboratory testing results.
46
47 References:
48
49 Clifton, H.E., Hubert, A. and Phillips, R.L., 1967, Marine Sediment Sample Preparation for
50 Analysis For Low Concentrations Of Fine Detrital Gold. Geological Survey Circular 545.
51
52
Washington.
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1
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3 Cochran, J.K., Carey, A.E., Edward, R.S. and Surprenant, L.D., 1986, The geochemistry of
4
5 uranium and thorium in coastal marine sediments and sediment pore waters. Geochimica et
6 Cosmochimica Acta Vol. 50, Issue 5, May 1986, Pages 663-680.
7
8 Folk, R.L., 1980, Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks: Austin, USA, Hemphill Publishing Company,
9
p.3-14.
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12 Gerhard, E. and Pat, E., 2006, Placer formation and placer minerals. Ore Geology Reviews. 28
13 (4): 373–375. doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2005.02.001.
14
15 Hadikusumo, S., Kurnio, H., Hardjawidjaksana, K., Lugra, I.W., Silitonga, F. and Budiman, 1990.
16
Report on Investigation of Marine Geology and Geophysics in Semangko Bay (in Bahasa
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18 Indonesia). Marine Geological Institute, unpublished.
19
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20 Hafidz, B.Y., Asnor, A.S., Terence, R.C. and Mohamed, C.A.R., Natrium Thorium Isotopes in
21 Marine Sediment Core off Labuan Port. AIP Proceedings 1584, 184 (2014); doi:
22
23
10.1063/1.4866129.
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25 Hartono, U., Syafri, I. and Ardiansyah, R., 2008, The Origin of Cihara granodiorite from South
26 Banten. Indonesian Journal on Geoscience IJOG, Vol. 3, No. 2, 107 – 116.
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28 Hite, T. H., 1933a, Fine gold and platinum of Snake River, Idaho: Econ. Geology, v. 28, no. 3, p.
29
256- 265.
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32 Hite, T.H., 1933b, Special features of fine gold from Snake River, Idaho: Econ. Geology, v. 28,
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33 no. 7, p. 686-691.
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35 Hou, B., Keeling, J. and Van Gosen, B.S., 2017, Geological and Exploration Models of Beach
36
Placer Deposits, Integrated from Case-Studies of Southern Australia. Ore Geology Reviews, Vol.
37
80, January 2017, Pages 437-459.
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40 Ingersoll, G. E., 1932, Small scale methods of placer mining and placer mining districts of
41 Washington and Oregon: Washington State Coll. Monthly Bull. (Eng. Expt. Sta., Eng. Bull. 43,
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43 1933), v. 15, no. 6, 59 p.
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45 Johansson, B., Luo, W. L. S., Ahuja, R., 2014, Cerium; Crystal Structure and Position in The
46 Periodic Table. Scientific Reports. 4:
47 6398. Bibcode:2014NatSR...4E6398J. doi:10.1038/srep06398. PMC 4165975. PMID 25227991.
48
49
50
Kamiludin, U., Darlan, Y. and Surachman, M., 2007, Kandungan Konsentrat Emas Plaser di
51 Perairan Bayah Kabupaten Lebak (Placer Gold Concentrates in Bayah’s Coastal Waters, Lebak
52 Regency, Banten Province, Southwest Java). Jurnal Geologi Kelautan, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 123-130.
53
54 Kudrass, H.R., 2000, Marine Placer Deposits and Sea-Level Changes. Handbook of Marine
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56 Mineral Deposits. Ebook ISBN: 9780203752760. Routledge 1st edition.
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1
2
3 Kurnio, H., 1994, Submarine landslides on the bottom of Semangko Bay based on the analysis of
4
5 shallow seismic reflection records and seismicity data. Marine Geological Institute of Indonesia
6 (MGI) Bulletin, Vol. 9, No.1, pp. 1-13.
7
8 Kurnio, H., Dwiyanto, B. and Sukmana, N., 1998, The Sea, the Source of Future Indonesian Gold
9
Reserves. Indonesian Mining Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1-2, February-June 1998, pp. 79-82.
10
11
12 Kurnio, H. and Sukmana, N., 1999, The Occurrences of Gold Placer in Recent Seabottom
13 Sediments of Indonesian Waters. Proceedings of Coordinating Committee for Coastal and
14 Offshore Geoscience Programmes in East and Southeast Asia (CCOP), thirty sixth session,
15
16 October 26 – November 2, 1999; Hanoi, Vietnam.
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18 Kurnio, H. & Hersenanto, C.W., 2007, Prospeksi Emas Letakan di Perairan Bayah, Kabupaten
19 Lebak, Propinsi Banten. Jurnal Geologi Kelautan, Vol. 5, No. 2, Agustus 2007, pp. 45-62.
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21 Kurnio, H. & Hersenanto, C.W., 2008, Kandungan Emas Lebih Tinggi Dalam Sedimen Fraksi
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23
Kasar Daripada Fraksi Halus di Perairan Bayah – Propinsi Banten Akibat Kondisi Pengendapan
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24 Terbuka Samudera Hindia. Jurnal Geologi Kelautan, Vol. 6, No. 3, Desember 2008, pp. 174-188.
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26 Kurnio, H. & Aryanto, N.C.D., 2010, Paleo-channels of Singkawang Waters West Kalimantan and
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27 Its Relation to the Occurrences of Sub-seabottom Gold Placers Based on Strata Box Seismic
28
29 Record Analysis. Bulletin of the Marine Geology, Vol. 25, No. 2, December 2010, pp 65-76.
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31 Marine Geological Institue – MGI, 1989, Report on marine geology and geophysics investigation
32 in coastal area water of Semangko Bay (in Bahasa Indonesia), unpublished.
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34 Marine Geological Institute – MGI, 1996, Report on gold placer investigation in Semangko Bay –
35
36 South Sumatra (in Bahasa Indonesia), unpublished.
37
Putra, D. A., 2019, Kementerian ESDM Temukan Emas di Perairan Banten (in Bahasa Indonesia).
On
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39 https://www.merdeka.com/uang/kementerian-esdm-temukan-emas-di-perairan-banten.html.
40
41 Stange, F., Helle, S. and Collao, S., 2018, Exploratory Potential for
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43 Gold Placer Deposits in the Coastal Range, BioBio Region, South-Central Chile. International
44 Journal of Geosciences, 2018, 9, 635-657.
45
46 Sujatmiko and Santoso, S., 1992. Geologi Lembar Leuwidamar, skala 1:100.000. Pusat Penelitian
47 dan Pengembangan Geologi, Bandung.
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49
50
Surachman, M. dan Widjaksana, H.K., 1992, Laporan Penyelidikan Geologi dan Geofisika
51 Wilayah Pantai Teluk Pelabuhan Ratu dan sekitarnya, Pusltibang Geologi Kelautan, unpublished
52 (in Bahasa Indonesia).
53
54 Van Bemmelen, R.W., 1949. The geology of Indonesia. Government Printing Office, The Hague,
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56 372 pp.
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4 Gold placer characteristics in marine sediments of
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Bayah waters, West Java, Indonesia
8
9 By :
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11 Hananto Kurnio1) , Yuhelda 2) and Jaeysen Kanily3)
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13 1) National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Research Organization Earth Sciences and
14 Maritime, Research Center for Geological Resources, hana013@brin.go.id (correspondence
15 email), orcid.id 0000-0002-6867-7611.
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2) National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Research Organization Nano and Advanced
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18 Materials, Research Center for Mining Technology, yuhe001@brin.go.id
19 3) PT Graha Makmur Coalindo (GMC), grahamakmurcoalindo@gmail.com
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22 Abstract
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Placer gold deposit of marine sedimentary gold prospect in Indonesian Waters, especially in
26 Bayah southwest of Java Island – Banten Province, has many unique characteristics. In Bayah’s
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27 coastal waters, gold mostly accumulates in very fine sands and is associated with high magnetic
28
minerals. Coarse sediments of sand and gravel tend to have higher Au contents sourced from
29
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30 the Late Oligocene dacite of the Cihara Granodiorite, which is outcropped at the coastal zone
31 of the Bayah seafloor. Stated as a batholith, Cihara Granodiorite also consisted of granite,
32
dacite porphyry and aplite.
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35 Gold exploitation from marine sediments had been started with a trial carried out in the coastal
36 water of Bayah using local fisherman’s boat. The successful trial led to massive pumping up of
37 the bottom sediments into a deck cargo ship capacity of 13.103 metric tons and brought to the
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stockpiling facility and mineral processing laboratory. Laboratory studies revealed that this
40 secondary gold generally occurred as flakes of silt size (0.002 to 0.05 mm). These findings
41 make gold more difficult to be separated from marine sediments and require further study
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especially relate to extraction process.
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45 Key words: gold placer, characteristics, marine sediments, Bayah, study case, Indonesian Waters.
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1
2
3 Introduction
4
5
6
The word placer was derived from Spanish which means “alluvial sand”. Placer itself is an
7 accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation from a specific source rock
8 during sedimentary processes (Gerhard and Pat, 2006). Gold derived from placer mining
9
was the main source of gold in the early times. Other characteristics of gold placers are dense,
10
11 resistant to weathering processes and have specific gravity greater than 2.58 (Gerhard and
12 Pat, 2006).
13
14 Exploration studies as well as gold characterization for placer gold deposits have been
15
16 conducted in many places. One of them has been done in Chile, a country in the western coastal
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17 zone of South America, which has a similar subduction-related geological condition as the
18 research area in Bayah, Indonesia. This country has performed studies on marine sedimentary
19
gold deposits. An exploration study for this precious metal has been carried out by Stange et al.
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21 (2018) in the Coastal Range of south-central Chile. Based on geochemical analysis results, this
22 region shows high gold contents in sediments (up to 24 ppm Au and 8 ppm Ag) and low Au
23
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contents in the rocky outcrops (757 and 41 ppb). The sediments were deposited in depression
25 morphology reaching up to 170 m deep, encouraging the deposition of placer gold. The
26 exploration results are then adopted for Chile’s future exploration strategies. Placer gold
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28
characterization is an operative instrument to identify the source and geological
29 environment which admits for more effective exploration (Pitfield et al., 2015).
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31 Piper and Graef (1974) on their research on marine surface sediments in the East Pacific
32 Rise found out that gold occurred together with rare-earth elements (REE). Gold has a
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34 volcanogenic source based on its association with high concentration of iron, while
35 individual rare earth concentration which increase in line with Al2O3 concentration
36 recommend the contribution of lithogenic material.
37
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Due to their reactivity, all REE in nature do not exist as individual native metals such as
39
40 gold. They occur together as either minor or major constituent of ore or minerals of silicates,
41 carbonates, oxides and phosphates (Balaram, 2018). Cerium is the most abundant from all
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42 the rare earth (Taylor & Mclennan, 1985; Wedepohl, 1995 and Lide, 1997) and its co-
43
44 existence with gold in marine sediments has been recorded (Yuan-Hui & Schoonmaker, 2003
45 & in this publication). On the other hand, radioactive element such as thorium was also
46 occurred in marine sediments (Chung & Chang, 1996) and it was mostly detrital origin with
47
48 a few authigenic input from sea water. Relation of abundances of thorium and gold in marine
49 sediments possibly could be explained by the fact that during hydrothermal fluid cooling in
50 the interior of the earth, the formation of gold crystals are involving thorium and uranium
51
52 atoms in the crystal lattice (Eugster, 2018). Marine sediments contain long-lived thorium
53 (Th) isotopes of 232Th and 230Th; and short-lived 234Th (Cochran et al., 1986). The short-live
54 thorium content slightly changes with depth and the values are greater than the overlying
55
56 water. Its distribution is controlled by a sorption equilibrium between pore water and the
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1
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3 solid phase. The short-lived 234Th only concentrated highest in the upper 5 cm marine
4
5 sediment and zero in the sediment column. Study of thorium in sediment core collected from
6 Labuan Port – Northern Kalimantan part of Malaysia territory by Hafidz et al. (2014) found
7 out that thorium, especially 230Th and 232Th, was derived from terrestrial sedimentary rock
8
9 surrounding the port; while the 228Th was authigenic in origin. The increasing 230Th at the
10 top surface of sediment was interpreted as recent years contribution from anthropogenic
11 sources. In this area, sedimentation rate in the core was obtained through estimation using
12 228Th / 232Th model and was resulted in high sedimentation rate of 4.67 cm/year that can be
13
14 connected to high physical activity in the port.
15
16 Numerous studies on the presence of gold deposits in the coastal zone have led to the
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hypothesis that secondary gold or placer gold may have been deposited in coastal waters
18
19 near the primary deposit. This hypothesis was based on assumption that as a heavy mineral
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20 gold would be spread closed to its primary source and this hypothesis and assumption was
21 first tested in Semangko Bay South Sumatra, Tanggamus Regency, Lampung Province (Marine
22
23 Geological Institute – MGI, 1989). On the other hand, gold hydraulic behavior makes this
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24 precious metal mostly occurred in association with coarse sediments (Clifton et al., 1967);
25 such has been observed in Bayah where small scale mining more active after storm events
26
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27 (Kurnio, 2008).
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29 The earliest discovery of Indonesia’s marine gold placer deposit at Semangko Bay
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30 (Hadikusumo et al., 1990) was based on a study of the geological conditions in the coastal zone
31
surrounding the bay and its mineral potential from secondary data provided by the Geological
32
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33 Agency. Characteristics of gold placer in Semangko Bay were mostly more concentrated in
34 coarse marine sediments of gravel and sand than fine sediments of silt and clay, and the high
35
contents spread closed to primary source especially in southeast part of the bay (Kurnio et
36
37 al., 1998). Numerous private gold mining companies have been operating in Semangko Bay till
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38 today, such as PT Natarang Mining and Way Linggo Mine. Additionally, gold was discovered
39
in submarine landslide materials in this bay (Kurnio, 1994).
40
41
This discovery was followed by detail research in 1996 (MGI, 1996). The research was carried
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43 out through systematic sea-bottom sediment sampling utilizing a gravity corer and grab sampler
44 with one - kilometer interval for this location. The sea depth for the sampling was restricted to
45
46
less than 50 m based on the exploitation capability of sea-mining vessels. A total of 177 sediment
47 samples were recovered from Semangko Bay sea-bottom consisting of 153 gravity cores and
48 grab-samples collected from offshore using local fisherman’s ship, and 24 samples were
49
50
collected from coastal areas in the vicinities of river mouths; thus, the placer gold research was
51 conducted in offshore and coastal areas. After the research in the bay was completed, more
52 research was conducted elsewhere, including in Bayah (Kurnio and Hersenanto, 2007 and 2008)
53
and Singkawang coastal waters (Kurnio and Aryanto, 2010). Bayah was chosen as Indonesia’s
54
55 first marine gold extraction region after considering several factors; such as it spread in
56 relatively shallow coastal waters (< 100 m sea depth) which technologically possible to be
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1
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3 developed further, the prospect is promising as it spread closed to its primary sources in
4
5 coastal zone, and the proximity of mining areas to corporate processing facilities.
6
7 In a marine environment, the origin of the placer deposit is closely related to sea level fluctuation
8 during the Lower Quaternary or Pleistocene glacio-eustacy, which began around 1.8 million
9
years ago (1.8 m.y.). During the low sea level of glacial phases, gold fluviatile placer deposits were
10
11 deposited in the inner shelf. The following regenerated fluviatile erosion then accumulated and
12 deposited this heavy mineral behind sediments (Kudrass, 2000). Hou et al. (2017) further noted
13
that coastal sediments enriched in placer deposits were deposited in laminated or lens-shaped
14
15 packages up to tens of meters thick. Preservation, along with subsidence of these deposits through
16 million years of geological timeframe, resulted in the formation of placer deposits. Sea-level
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changes that result in either marine transgression (shoreline migrating inland) or marine regression
18
19 (seaward migrating) were burying or abandoning earlier deposits or modifying them to form
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20 younger accumulations (Kudrass, 2000).
21
22 Clifton et al. (1967) based on their study of more than 2000 sediment samples of beach, offshore,
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marine terrace and alluvial sands in Oregon USA found out that gold concentrates mostly occur
25 in nonmagnetic fractions smaller than 0.124 mm, and the specific gravity is greater than 3.3. Gold
26 flakes in beach sands are mostly 0.010 to 0.020 mm thick and 0.060 to 0.090 mm in diameter; and
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a single flake in a gram of sand represents approximately 1 ppm (part per million). From the
29 miner’s view, this very fine gold is a typical flour gold. There is no agreement on how many
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30 gold flakes could be found in a Troy ounce; Ingersoll (1932) proposed 885,000 particles, Hite
31
(1933) stated 10 million particles, while Clifton et al. suggested 31 million particles.
32
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34 Gold’s extremely high specific gravity (15 -19) makes the grains much smaller than their
35 hydraulically equivalent sediment grains. Due to this inequivalent hydraulic behavior with
36 sediment grains, the gold particles are mostly in a fraction smaller than 0.124 mm. Clifton et al.
37
(1967) also noted that gold particle sizes of the offshore sediment containing gold are not
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39 depended on the distance from its original gold source. Detrital gold deposited at more than tens
40 of kilometers or a few kilometers from its source in the coastal areas is everywhere smaller than
41
0.124 mm or very fine sand according to Wentworth sediment size scale. Very fine sand
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43 represents a grain size range between 0.0625 to 0.125 mm.
44
45 Gold placer studies in coastal waters of Indonesian areas have been carried out in several
46 locations (Kurnio et al., 1998; Kurnio and Sukmana, 1999), including Ujung Genteng – Southwest
47
48 Java, Bakauheni – Lampung – South Sumatra, Kapuas River Mouth – West Kalimantan,
49 Semangko Bay – Lampung – South Sumatra, Pulau Laut – South Kalimantan, Padang Baai –
50 Bengkulu – West Sumatra, Pelabuhan Ratu Bay – Southwest Java, Bone Bay – South Sulawesi,
51
52 Blongas Sepi Bay – South Lombok – Lesser Sunda Islands and Padang – West Sumatra. Recent
53 research was conducted in Bayah – South Banten Province by Kurnio and Hersenanto (2007 and
54 2008) and Singkawang West Kalimantan Province by Kurnio and Aryanto (2010). At those
55
56 locations mentioned total 323 samples of marine sediment its placer gold had been examined
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59
1
2
3 (Kurnio and Sukmana, 1999). Only 31 samples are barren from the total. Gold occurrences
4
5 were spread 63.3 % in muddy and silty sediment units, 32.9% in sandy units and 3.8% in
6 gravelly units. Occurrences in fine sediment units, an indication of low energy environment,
7 could be related to protected coastal water of Semangko Bay, Bakauheni, Pulau Laut, Bone
8
9 Bay, and Bongas Sepi Bay. Open seas such as Padang Baai, Padang, and Bayah placer gold
10 exist in coarse sediment units.
11
12 Placer gold indications in Bayah coastal waters were identified at the seafloor, coastal and river
13
sediments (Kurnio and Hersenanto, 2007). In this area, gold mostly accumulates in very fine sands.
14
15 Contrary to Clifton et al’s study, ore mineral analysis results show that high content of gold and
16 silver in sediments was associated with high magnetic minerals which are consisted of magnetite,
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haemetite and limonite. Au concentration of the sediment range between 0.4 and 1.8 ppm,
18
19 while Ag is 6.8 and 7.8 ppm, Fe 38.54 and 48.64%, and Cu 17 and 18 ppm. Based on coastal area
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20 drilling data, at 9 to 14 meters below the seafloor, the subsurface sediment contains Au range
21 between 0.4 and 1.8 ppm. Panning of surficial beach sands at 13 locations revealed that sand in
22
23 this area contains gold ranges between 0,2 and 0,8 ppm.
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25 The marine gold placer in Bayah Waters spreads in various sediment types (Kurnio and
26 Hersenanto, 2008). Coarser sediments tend to have higher Au concentrations (0.1 – 1.58 ppm)
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28
than finer sediments (0.14 – 0.6 ppm). On the other hand, the longshore current in the coastal
29 water of Bayah has swept away gold from the west to the headland bay morphology in the east,
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30 trapping them (Surachman and Widjaksana, 1992). The trapped gold particles in coastal and
31
marine sediments in this area are identified as up to 10 ppm. The secondary gold in Bayah’s
32
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33 coastal waters is derived from Cihara Granodiorite (Hartono et al., 2008). This batholith is
34 also consisted of granite, dacite porphyry and aplite and outcropped at coastal zone and
35
seafloor of Bayah.
36
37
Table 1 shows that placer gold in Bayah spread in various marine sediment types (Kurnio and
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39 Hersenanto, 2008, and this study). The sediments were analyzed using grain size method.
40 The placer occurs in sand, slightly gravelly sand, gravelly sand, muddy sand, slightly gravelly
41
muddy sand, sandy mud and slightly gravelly sandy mud. One sample described as coral reef has
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43 gold content of 0.22 ppm that trapped the gold particles in its porous surface. Placer gold is
44 more prevalent in coarser (sand) marine sediments (88.64%) than in fine (mud) sediments
45
46
(11.36%). Au concentration was determined by fire assay Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
47 (AAS) method.
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1
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3 Table 1. Placer gold deposit in Bayah
4
5 NO Sediment types Sample amount Percentage Au Au average
6
(classification based (44) concentration concentration
7
8 on Folk, 1980) (ppm) (ppm)
9
10 1 Sand (S) 11 25% 0.1 – 1.58 0.513
11
2 Slightly gravelly 6 13.6% 0.15 – 0.8 0.352
12
13 Sand ((g)S)
14
15 3 Gravelly Sand (gS) 1 2.27% 0.3 0.3
16
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17 4 Muddy Sand (mS) 13 29.5% 0.13 – 0.4 0.224
18
19 5 Slightly gravelly 2 4.54% 0.15 – 0.25 0.2
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20 muddy Sand ((g)mS)
21
22 6 Sandy Mud (sM) 4 9.09% 0.14 – 0.6 0.285
23
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24 7 Slightly gravelly 1 2.27% 0.4 0.4

25 sandy Mud ((g)sM)
26
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27 8 Sand 5 11.36% 0.1 – 0.9 0.4

28
29 9 Coral 1 2.27% 0.22 0.22
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31 10 Fine sand 3 36 – 183.5 *)
32
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33 *) Analysis results of gold contents in the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)
34 laboratory in this study.
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32 Figure 1. Research area is located in the southern coastal waters of Banten Province.
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34 This paper tries to discuss all works especially relate to exploration studies that has been
35
36 done for marine gold placer in Indonesian seas (Marine Geological Institute - MGI, 1996;
37 Kurnio et al., 1998; Kurnio and Sukmana, 1999; Kurnio and Hersenanto, 2007, 2008; and
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38 Kurnio and Aryanto, 2010) which was culminated with exploitation trial and massive pump
39
40 up of marine sediment in Bayah’s coastal water area – southwest of Java Island, Banten
41 Province (Figure 1) in 2019.
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42
43 As a part of the research goal, Bayah area has been chosen for placer gold exploitation
44
(Putra, 2019) and has been permitted to be explored and exploited based on concession
45
46 permit Number 541.3/06-DESDM.IUP OP/III/2018 issued by Directorate General of Mineral
47 and Coal, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. The concession covers 1,972 hectares.
48
The permit is from 4th May 2018 to 4th May 2028. Nowadays the stage is production activity
49
50 with gold as the targeted commodity.
51
52 The regional geology of the concession area belongs to Bayah Dome (Figure 2). Bayah Dome
53 is a geological structure and volcanic morphology of Neogene to Quaternary ages (23 to 0.01
54
55 ma), with its central part consisting of erupted volcanic rocks and a series of andesitic to
56 dacitic shallow intrusive or subvolcanic rocks. Cihara Granodiorite belongs to this series
57
58
59
1
2
3 (Hartono et al., 2008). The current morphology was formed by the last tectonic uplift process
4
5 in the Late Pliocene, approximately 2.5 million years ago (van Bemmelen, 1949).
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29 Figure 2. Bayah’s dome (Source: google maps).
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32
Methods
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34 The research was started with seafloor sediment samplings in the exploration permit area in
35 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2016 before awarded with exploitation licence in 2018. In 2019, the
36 exploitation was started with core sediment samplings from 50 locations on the seafloor of
37
Bayah’s coastal waters within the mining concession area (Figure 3) prior to the trial. The
On
38
39 samples were collected from 25 to 60 m sea depth by diving and stored in 1 m length PVC
40 tubes. The seafloor sediments were pumped up using a local fisherman’s boat during the
41
exploitation trial. The pumped sediments were put into a sluice box equipped with carpet to
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42
43 trap the placer gold while the tailing flowed back to the seafloor. The gold placer concentrate
44 were analyzed using portable or handheld XRF in the company laboratory facility and
45
46
Thermo scientific and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP
47 OES) in the Laboratory of National Research and Innovation Agency. The analysis was
48 applied Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) used 006.003/TBGN. Thorium was also
49
50
examined by handheld XRF.
51
52 Massive bottom sediment pumping was done after the exploitation trial successfully
53 identified gold nuggets in the sluice box. The pumped sediments were loaded onto the deck
54 cargo ship OMS Bromo, a vessel with a dead weight ton (DWT) of 13.103 tons, a length of
55
56 127.73 meters and a width of 26 meters (Figure 4), and then stockpiled in the company’s
57
58
59
1
2
3 coastal facility at Muara Binuangeun Port approximately 32 kilometers northwest of the
4
5 concession area. Some samples were taken to the laboratory facility and megascopic
6 description method had been applied to the sediments. The method use visual observation
7 sometime with the help of handheld loupe magnifying 10 and 20 time to determine sediment
8
9 type, color, size, sorting, mineral, rock fragments, fossil and other contents such as biota
10 shells.
11
12 In the laboratory, the samples were analyzed using granulometric or grain size method and
13
are classified based on Folk nomenclature (1980). Folk determined sediment types based on
14
15 the percentages of gravel, sand, silt, and clay. Silt and clay in marine sediments are often
16 termed as mud. The same samples were also determined its placer gold contents to know the
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17
accumulation tendency either in the coarse or fine sediments.
18
19
The geochemical analyses used were Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and the
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20
21 results are shown in Table 2. Before Au examination, 36 samples were prepared and split
22 into 2 parts : the original (ORI) and roasted (BAKAR). The ORI was directly examined for
23
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24
gold contents and the roasted were heated at 200°C to evaporate its water content before
25 treatment. Total 72 samples have been examined. In addition, there are 5 samples processed
26 using a sluice box equipped with carpet and analyzed by fire assay and AAS (Table 3).
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27
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50 Figure 3. Seafloor sediment sampling locations at mining concession area. Table 2 shows Au
51 analysis results.
52
53 To better understand characteristics of marine gold placer, a processing method had been
54 implemented. The implemented processing method consisted of capturing gold flakes through
55
56 a tilted amalgamation box equipped with metal plates (stainless steel) painted with mercury, and
57
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59
1
2
3 pumping and recycling the sediment-water mixture for about two hours. Thirteen samples were
4
5 getting placer processing treatment and the analysis results using AAS shown in Table 4. In
6 the other hand, 6 samples were examined using XRF handheld in the laboratory (Table 5).
7
8 Clifton et al. (1967) noticed that marine gold placer has values that do not represent its initial
9
sample. This problem results from a particle sparsity effect where the analysis for gold in
10
11 each sample depends more upon the occurrence of random gold flakes in the analyzed section
12 rather than upon the actual gold content of the sample. Analysis through weighted
13
concentrate containing all gold would be suggested to remove this particle sparsity effect
14
15 problem. Besides sample preparation techniques mentioned above, usage of heavy liquid to
16 separate gold into a heavy and a light fraction is suggested.
Fo
17
18 Results
19
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20
The megascopic description sediments from Bayah’s seafloor are fine sand of brownish-gray
21
22 color, moderately sorted, sometimes containing igneous rock fragments (granodiorite) and
23 shell fragments, and sample was in dry condition. Results of core sediment analysis at 50
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24 locations are shown in Table 2. Total 72 samples were examined which range between 4.86
25
26 to 12.23 ppm or gram/ton. Mostly the roasted samples have higher values than the original
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27 due to the disappearances of water content. The marine sediments treated with a sluice box
28 equipped with carpet (Table 3), the analysis results show Au range between 3.82 and 7.63
29
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30 ppm and Ag 15.60 and 57.01 ppm. The analysis also identified Mn between 100 and 850, Cu
31 10 and 20 ppm, Pb 15 and 64 ppm, Zn 50 and 490, Ti 780 and 3364 ppm and Mo 19 and 84
32 ppm.
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33
34
Table 2. Gold content analysis results of selected Bayah’s seafloor sediments. Unit in
35
36 gram/ton, method of analysis flame AAS.
37
NO SAMPLE ID RESULTS NO SAMPLE ID RESULTS NOTES
On
38
39 1 DV 01 A BAKAR 9.30 37 DV 20 A BAKAR 6.20 These all seafloor
40 2 DV 02 A ORI 9.27 38 DV 21 A ORI 6.38 sediments were
41 3 DV 02 A BAKAR 9.44 39 DV 21 A BAKAR 6.48 sampled by
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42 4 DV 04 A ORI 6.99 40 DV 22 A ORI 6.40 divers at 50

43 5 DV 04 A BAKAR 6.86 41 DV 22 A BAKAR 6.37 locations. Each
44 6 DV 05 A ORI 9.36 42 DV 23 B ORI 6.38 sample was
45 7 DV 05 A BAKAR 9.42 43 DV 24 B ORI 6.58 taken through 1
46 8 DV 06 A ORI 9.45 44 DV 24 B BAKAR 6.62 m PVC tubes
47 9 DV 06 A BAKAR 9.52 45 DV 25 B ORI 6.62 pushed into the
48 sediment.
10 DV 07 A ORI 9.35 46 DV 25 B BAKAR 6.68
49 Sample ID :
11 DV 07 A BAKAR 9.50 47 DV 26 B ORI 6.66 ORI for original
50
12 DV 08 A ORI 9.88 48 DV 26 B BAKAR 6.96 sand marine
51
13 DV 08 A BAKAR 10.06 49 DV 29 B ORI 6.82 sediments
52
14 DV 09 A ORI 11.98 50 DV 29 B BAKAR 6.98 BAKAR for
53 samples after
15 DV 09 A BAKAR 12.23 51 DV 30 B ORI 6.90
54 roasted at 200°C
16 DV 10 A ORI 10.65 52 DV 30 B BAKAR 7.02
55
17 DV 10 A BAKAR 10.72 53 DV 36 C ORI 5.25
56
57
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1
2
3 18 DV 11 A ORI 10.27 54 DV 36 C BAKAR 5.27
4 19 DV 11 A BAKAR 10.45 55 DV 38 C ORI 5.22
5 20 DV 12 A ORI 10.16 56 DV 38 C BAKAR 5.26
6 21 DV 12 BAKAR 10.32 57 DV 40 C ORI 4.86
7 22 DV 13 A ORI 8.65 58 DV 40 C BAKAR 4.95
8 23 DV 13 A BAKAR 8.80 59 DV 41 C ORI 5.06
9 24 DV 14 A ORI 8.02 60 DV 41 C BAKAR 5.10
10 25 DV 14 A BAKAR 8.10 61 DV 42 C ORI 5.20
11 26 DV 15 A ORI 8.11 62 DV 42 C BAKAR 5.38
12 27 DV 15 A BAKAR 8.23 63 DV 45 C ORI 5.72
13 28 DV 16 A ORI 8.14 64 DV 45 C BAKAR 5.51
14 29 DV 16 A BAKAR 8.16 65 DV 46 C ORI 5.33
15 30 DV 17 A ORI 6.37 66 DV 46 C BAKAR 5.67
16 31 DV 17 A BAKAR 6.10 67 DV 47 C ORI 5.23
Fo
17 32 DV 18 A ORI 6.44 68 DV 47 C BAKAR 5.63
18 33 DV 18 A BAKAR 6.26 69 DV 48 C ORI 5.43
19 34 DV 19 A ORI 6.14 70 DV 48 C BAKAR 5.38
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20 35 DV 19 A BAKAR 6.08 71 DV 50 C ORI 5.72
21 36 DV 20 A ORI 6.12 72 DV 50 C BAKAR 5.84
22
23
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Table 3. Results of a sluice box equipped with carpet.
26
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27
28 No Sample Elements analyzed (ppm)
29 ID
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30 Au (ppm) Ag (ppm) Mn Cu (ppm) Pb (ppm) Zn (ppm) Ti Mo

(ppm) (ppm) (ppm)
31
32 1
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7,35 57,01 800 20 19 50 893 68

33 ABB-01
34 2
35 6,97 24,81 100 10 64 220 1935 84
ABB-03
36 3 ABB-06 3,82 15,60 750 10 15 490 3364 19
37
4 ABB-08
On
38 7,63 27,55 850 12 27 61 780 66

39 5 ABB-09 5,56 30,74 590 15 43 52 1252 73
40
41 Average 6.266 31.142
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42 METHODE FIRE FIRE AAS AAS AAS AAS AAS AAS

43 ASAY ASAY
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27 Figure 4. Uploading of seafloor sediments into deck cargo ship (Source : PT Graha Makmur
28 Coalindo).
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30 The sediments were uploaded to cargo ship of 13.103 tons capacity (Figure 4). In the
31
laboratory, the gold flakes from the cargo ship sediments were captured via the inclined
32
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33 amalgamation box method by applying 20 kilograms bulk sample; the result was 2.560 grams
34 (Figure 5). Gold flakes in the box observe as tiny silt size particles or 0.002 to 0.05 millimeters
35 on the Wentworth grain size scale. This processing treatment has been applied to 13 samples
36
37 as shown in Table 4. On the other hand, some samples are examined through laboratory’s
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38 handheld XRF (Table 5).

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50
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52 Figure 5. The tilted amalgamation box used for gold processing in the laboratory (left) and
53 the gold obtained (2.560 grams) after processing of 20 kilograms bulk sample (right).
54
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1
2
3 Table 4. Results of samples getting placer processing treatment
4
5
6
No Sample Elements analyzed (ppm)
7 ID
8 Au Ag Fe Mn Cu Pb Zn Cr Ni Al Zr
9 ppm ppm (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (ppb) (ppb) (%) (ppb)
10 01 0,20 24,05 1,30 0,24 0,11 0,005 0,005 100 280 6,73 120
11 CBB- 36
12
13 02 0,18 7,43 2,09 0,30 0,24 0,048 0,007 150 255 2,59 300
14 CBB-38
15 03 CBB-39 0,32 10,39 2,44 0,27 0,16 0,050 0,060 100 149 4,72 260
16 04 CBB-40 0,29 22,42 1,62 0,37 0,18 0,054 0,005 250 266 3,50 510
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18 05 CBB-41 0,41 14,57 1,98 0,32 0,33 0,003 0,020 300 385 5,30 100
19 06 CBB-42 0,11 11,40 2,47 0,25 0,19 0,060 0,010 100 130 3,48 280
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07 CBB-43 0,57 18,83 1,39 0,26 0,14 0,080 0,004 100 567 2,69 200
21
22 08 CBB-44 0,54 12,60 3,51 0,39 0,20 0,065 0,001 100 480 4,27 440
23
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09 CBB-45 0,25 28,35 2,07 0,24 0,35 0,076 0,057 200 651 3,93 530
24
25 10 CBB-46 0,16 18,97 1,99 0,06 0,28 0,012 0,030 350 255 3,68 290
26 11 CBB-49 0,20 13,44 2,45 0,17 0,37 0,037 0,005 200 560 3,40 100
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27 12 CBB-51 0,35 24,18 1,84 0,25 0,15 0,002 0,050 100 275 2,85 250
28 13 CBB-53 0,44 10,26 2,57 0,14 0,44 0,044 0,020 100 740 3,54 300
29 METODE FIRE FIRE AAS AAS AAS AAS AAS AAS AAS AA AAS
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30 ASA ASAY S
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Table 5. Test using XRF handheld results
35
36 NO READING Au (%) Ag (%) NOTES
37 NUMBER
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38 1 4428 9.552 52.344 - The examined samples are concentrates after

39 2 4430 19.531 80.469 chemical treatment of bulk samples taken by the
40 cargo ship and stored in the company laboratory,
3 4522 0.048 0.821 thus no specific number or location; instead
41
4 4524 < LOD <LOD
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42 sample ID replaced with READING NUMBER

43 5 4526 <LOD 8.080 as recorded in the handheld XRF
44 6 4527 0.054 0.901 - LOD – Limit Of Detection
45
46
47 Analysis in the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) laboratory was obtained gold
48
49 36 to 183.5 ppm as shown in Table 6. On the other hand, rare earth elements analysis of the same
50 samples at the same laboratory using ICP OES method show the abundances of heavy REE (Dy),
51 light REE (La, Ce, Nd) and middle REE (Eu, Gd). The most abundant REE in the research area is
52
53 cerium (Ce – 18.72 to 866.37 ppm). In Table 6 was also presented thorium in high
54 concentration.
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56
57
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59
1
2
3 Table 6. Gold, Rare earth and radioactive element contents of Bayah’s seafloor sediments
4
5
6 Rare earth
7 N SAMPLE & CONTENTS
U IDL NOTES
8 O ID radioactive
9 elements REE Au, Fe, Al
10 1848-41089-
11 (1-2)
12 1
13 1 1 Rep 2 Y 65.82 64.92 <IDL 1.27 0.13
14 2 1
1
2 Pr 167.74 145.14 <IDL 1 : 183.5 0.50 0.10
15 Rep
16 3 1
1
2 Sc 22.25 21.99 6.72 ± 5.2 0.46 0.10 - All samples
Fo
Rep
17 1 were
18 4 1 2 La 412.43 382.92 37.73 0.41 0.12 analyzed
19
Rep
1 Rep :
5 1
1
2 Gd 32.66 34.00 6.25 0.37 0.10 from
179.1 ±
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20 Rep stockpiles
1
21 6 1 Rep 2 Nd 263.30 236.52 <IDL 0.7 0.41 0.10 after stored
22 1 approximate
23 7 1 2 Ce 866.37 819.04 18.72 0.65 0.10 ly 3 years
ee
Rep
24 8 1
1
2 Sm 67.40 74.88 <IDL
2 : 36 ± 3 0.38 0.10
(2019 -
25 Rep 2022)
1 - Contents in
26 9 1 2 Eu 19.85 19.73 5.14 0.33 0.12
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Rep Fe : ppm
1
28 10 1 Rep 2 Tb 22.17 17.54 8.81 95,500 – 0.37 0.09 - U
Uncertainty
29 11 1
1
2 Dy 23.30 22.01 <IDL 99,500 0.28 0.10
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30 Rep - IDL
31 12 1
1
2 Ho <IDL <IDL <IDL - 0.10 Instrument
Rep
32 1
Al : Detection
Limit
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13 1 2 Tm <IDL <IDL <IDL - 0.10

33 Rep 64,175 –
34 1
35
14 1 Rep 2 Yb <IDL <IDL <IDL 75,025 - 0.14
1
36 15 1 Rep 2 Lu <IDL <IDL <IDL - 0.11
37
On
38
39 The thorium
40 711,377.125 +/- content was
16 XL3-110068 Th - -
41 200,000 examined by
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42 portable XRF
43
44
45
46
47 Discussion
48
49 As noticed in Table 6, the bulk sample obtained from the cargo ship has high contents of
50 placer gold. The high contents possibly were after transportation and compaction in the
51
52 stockpile location which were not represented the real sediment conditions on the seafloor of
53 Bayah’s coastal water. On the other hand, gold observe as tiny silt size particles shows that
54 gravity process is not enough to separate placer gold from marine sediments, instead it
55
56
57
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1
2
3 requires further study especially relate to extraction process. Detail marine gold process
4
5 would be discussed in detail by the second and third author in the next publication.
6
7 As gold occurred in sediment of marine environment, the content of salt (NaCl) possibly will
8 influence the behavior of this precious metal; but study of gold processing on gold ore from
9
Indonesian artisanal mining by Harjanto et al. (2018) found out that addition of NaCl was
10
11 increasing gold recovery until 78%. The study of NaCl addition was meant to optimize
12 chloride-ion-based solution leaching to replace mercury used in amalgamation method that
13
is not environmentally friendly.
14
15
16 The characteristics of gold in coastal waters area were mainly identified based on the study
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17 by Clifton et al. (1967) and the first author’s prior studies in Bayah and other Indonesian
18 seas. Clifton et al. studied marine black-sand deposits in Oregon coastal area, the western
19
coastal waters of the USA, to investigate its origin and resource potential. This coastal water
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20
21 area resemblance to the Bayah coastal area in the southwest of Java Island, Indonesia, where
22 the coastal sediments are derived from denudation processes of the volcanic belt of the Asia-
23
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Pacific “Ring of Fire”, which extends from the eastern Pacific Ocean to the north-northeast
25 Indian Ocean. Bayah is located in a tropical region where physical and chemical weathering
26 is more intense than Oregon, which is influenced by four seasons. This climate difference
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27
28
influences the characteristics of gold yields in Bayah and Oregon, especially its association
29 where the placer in Oregon exist together with non-magnetic, while in Bayah with magnetic
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30 minerals. Both areas show the same placer gold size equal to very fine sand.
31
32 The character of high specific density causes placer gold tend to occur in coarser marine
iew
33
34 sediments. In Bayah 88.64% gold took place in sand and gravel and 11.36 in mud sediments
35 (Kurnio and Hersenanto, 2007 and 2008). This phenomenon seems appeared to balance the
36 hydraulic behaviour generated by its extreme density. Clifton et al. (1967) on their study
37
also noted that distance of gold deposition location to its primary source does not control the
On
38
39 size. According to them elsewhere in coastal areas gold particles are less than 0.124 mm and
40 this study in Bayah seems support that fact.
41
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42 In Bayah, high concentration of placer gold (36 to 183.5 ppm Table 6) together with high
43
44 iron concentration (95,500 to 99,500 ppm) according to Piper and Graef (1974) suggesting
45 volcanogenic origin, while high rare earth concentrates together with aluminium (Al 64,175
46 – 75,025 ppm) according to the two authors interpret derived from lithogenic materials.
47
48 These materials occurred either in marine sediments or outcropped at coastal of the research
49 area.
50
51 Placer gold characteristics of Bayah reveals that the prospect for further development is obvious.
52
This area is located in a tropical climate region where physical and chemical weathering is more
53
54 intense. The ‘age’ of erosion, transportation and deposition processes of gold deliberated from its
55 primary sources before reaching its current position of 23 million years ago until now, increasing
56
57
58
59
1
2
3 the prospects for further development of marine placer gold deposits in this area. Other factors,
4
5 such as a sea depth of shallower than 100 meters and its association with magnetic minerals, are
6 easier for exploration. The permit concession area is close to the coast of Bayah, making marine
7 placer gold in this area more feasible. Bayah’s area is comparable to Chile as this country has
8
9 the same geological condition of the subduction related environment.
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
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18
19
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23
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25
26
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28
29
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31
32
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33
34
35
36
37 Figure 6. Microscopic description of Cihara Granodiorite Bayah (magnification 300 x) (Source:
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38
39
GMC laboratory).
40
41 There is a possibility that the sources of gold and rare earth elements are derived from the seafloor
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42 as well as the coast. It seems that transportation by the river itself is not the only agent that
43 delivers the gold to coastal waters. Cihara granodiorite batholith is possibly the primary source of
44
45 gold spread at the seafloor of Bayah coastal waters as this unit also exposed at Cihara beach. This
46 batholith is of Oligo-Miocene, approximately 23 million years of age. Such long exposure to
47 denudation and marine processes in coastal area come to the assumption that denudation products
48
49 brought along gold and other valuable metals and spread them in the coastal area as well as at
50 the seafloor. Figure 6 shows gold grains in quartz veins of gravel-size dacite belonging to Cihara
51 Granodiorite obtained from Bayah’s seafloor sediment.
52
53 The effect of sea level changes to the placer gold distribution in Bayah is an interesting topic
54
55 that need to be studied further, but higher gold contents deeper from borehole data in the
56 coastal water possibly could be related to the changes. In Bayah, the boreholes penetrated
57
58
59
1
2
3 marine sediments (BH1) and igneous rocks (BH2). BH1 contains sand of loose behavior from
4
5 4 to 12 m below seafloor and it shows higher gold content downward from 0.20 to 1.80 ppm
6 at 4 to 11 m and 0.5 at 11 to 12 m. Panning to the drilling sediment found out 3 to 16 gold of
7 fine to coarse sizes. Further downward of drill well (34 to 35) the sediments were consisted
8
9 of fine sand and slightly gravelly sandy clay with much lower gold content (0.1 ppm). BH2
10 entered igneous rocks of partly altered andesite, basalt, dacite and diorite with gold contents
11 mostly less than 1 ppm.
12
13
Review of cerium content in the source rocks of the nearby terrestrial areas show its contents
14
15 in basalt (0.87 ppm), in basaltic andesitic (21.81 ppm), in quartz-diorite (25.05 ppm), in
16 granodiorite (21.71 ppm) and in granite (22.34 ppm) (Hartono et al., 2008). Comparison of
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17
Ce contents either in seafloor sediments or in source rocks, it is obvious that the seafloor
18
19 sediments experience multiply cerium enrichments, it’s at about 40 times than the source
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20 rocks. This is possibly due to long time denudation process experienced by the source rocks
21 before its cerium content is deposited in Bayah’s coastal waters. Cerium is the most common
22
23 of the lanthanides or rare earth elements and it is also the 25th most abundant element of the
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24 Earth’s crust (Johansson et al., 2014). Although cerium is noticed belongs to rare-earth
25 metals, it’s occurrences in earth crust is 66 ppm just behind copper (68 ppm) and much more
26
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27 abundant than lead (13 ppm) and tin (2.1 ppm). Compared to others REE, cerium is the
28 easiest to extract from its minerals, monazite and bastnasite. This condition is possibly due
29 to its behavior as the only lanthanide that can reach stable +4 oxidation state in aqueous
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30
31 solution. Cerium co-existence with gold in marine sediments has been recorded (Yuan-Hui
32 & Schoonmaker, 2003).
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33
34 High content of thorium in Bayah’s sample is possibly can be related to anthropogenic
35
sources as this sample was uploaded in cargo ship before being analysis in the laboratory but
36
37 its co-existence with high placer gold content in marine sediment possibly could be related
On
38 to gold crystal formation during hydrothermal fluid cooling in the interior earth crust that
39
involving thorium in its crystal lattice.
40
41
Conclusions
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42
43
44 Placer gold characteristics of Bayah are mostly accumulated in very fine sands (grain sizes 0.125
45 to 0.0625 millimeters), associated with high magnetic minerals, occurred in all types of marine
46 sediments but the coarse units tend to have higher Au contents. Dacite of Cihara Granodiorite
47
48 of Late Oligocene which outcropped at the coastal area of Bayah as well as at seafloor is the
49 source of placer gold. As a batholith, it also consisted of granite, dacite porphyry and aplite.
50 On the other hand, gold flakes of silt size (0.002 to 0.05 mm) are also observed during laboratory
51
52 study. The occurrences of this tiny placer gold in the marine sediments need further study
53 relate to extraction process.
54
55
56
57
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59
1
2
3 After many considerations, such as the area is located in a tropical climate region where
4
5 physical and chemical weathering is more intense, the ‘age’ of erosion, transportation and
6 deposition processes of gold deliberated from its primary sources before reaching its current
7 position of 23 million years ago until now, sea depth shallower than 100 meters, its association
8
9 with magnetic minerals for easier exploration, and the permit concession area closed to the
10 coast are increasing the prospects for further development of marine placer gold deposits in
11 Bayah and this area is selected as Indonesia’s first marine gold exploitation area. An
12
13 exploitation trial had been carried out in this area successfully by pumping up bottom sediments
14 and put into a sluice box equipped with carpet to trap the placer gold. The Bayah’s placer gold
15 has been extracted on a laboratory.
16
Fo
17
Acknowledgements
18
19
The authors would like to thank all stakeholders involve in this research. Special thanks devoted
rP
20
21 to Mr Iwan Setiawan Head of Research Center for Geological Resources (RC GR), Organization
22 research of Geosciences and Maritime, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Mr
23
ee
24
Anggoro Tri Mursito Acting Head of RC GR during initiation of this research and Mr Rocky
25 General Manager and Owner of PT Graha Makmur Coalindo and its Staffs. Thanks also dedicated
26 to Laboratory of Nuclear Minerals Technology, Directorate of Laboratory Management, Research
rR
27
28
Facilities, and Regional Science Technology, Deputy of Infrastructure and Innovation, National
29 Research and Innovation Agency, BRIN; for permission using laboratory testing results.
ev
30
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Australian Journal of Earth Sciences

Gold placer characteristics in marine sediments of Bayah

waters, West Java, Indonesia

Journal: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences

Manuscript Type: Research Paper

Date Submitted by the

gold placer, marine sediments, Bayah, Indonesian Waters,

33 TYPES AMOUNT (44) CONTENTS AVERAGE

38 1 Sand (S) 11 & 25% 0.1 – 1.58 0.513

42 3 Gravelly Sand (gS) 1 & 2.27% 0.3 0.3

24 sluice box in the laboratory.

38 Bayah’s coastal waters.

33 13 1 Rep 2 Tm <IDL <IDL <IDL - 0.10

42 to Laboratory of Nuclear Minerals Technology, Directorate of Laboratory Management, Research

24 7 Slightly gravelly 1 2.27% 0.4 0.4

27 8 Sand 5 11.36% 0.1 – 0.9 0.4

42 4 DV 04 A ORI 6.99 40 DV 22 A ORI 6.40 divers at 50

30 Au (ppm) Ag (ppm) Mn Cu (ppm) Pb (ppm) Zn (ppm) Ti Mo

7,35 57,01 800 20 19 50 893 68

38 7,63 27,55 850 12 27 61 780 66

42 METHODE FIRE FIRE AAS AAS AAS AAS AAS AAS

38 handheld XRF (Table 5).

38 1 4428 9.552 52.344 - The examined samples are concentrates after

42 sample ID replaced with READING NUMBER

13 1 2 Tm <IDL <IDL <IDL - 0.10

33 Balaram, V. (2018). Rare earth elements: A review of applications, occurrence, exploration,

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