Gold has been mined in the Eastern Desert of Egypt since the time of the
Pharaohs, yet the geological settings of such ore deposits and how
certain deposits link to each other is still not fully understood. The
application of remote sensing in identifying variations in surface
mineralogy, structural elements, and lithologic contacts can help in
identifying such relations. Signatures collected from the Advanced
Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data is
used to map the hydrothermal alteration zones of El-Hoteib area, which
is located to the northwest of Iqat and Al-Fawi gold mines and
prospective for gold. SPOT5 data is used to highlight the preliminary
structural lineaments in the area. Band ratioing and principal component
analysis techniques are used to refine the different lithologic units
in the area. A simplified Crósta technique has been applied to the ASTER
data to identify both the location and spatial extent of the different
alteration zones around the Iqat-Al-Fawi area. A new gold-bearing
alteration zone is detected to the north of Gabal El-Hoteib. It is
structurally controlled by E-W to WNW-ESE structures with evidence of
reactivation of such trends during the Quaternary. Ore microscopy
examination, induced coupled plasma mass spectrometry and fire assay
analysis revealed the presence of gold in associated with excess zinc in
most samples
