Iron

Iron associated with manganese east of Abu Zenima has economic significance as a byproduct of manganese extraction, potentially accounting for the difference between profit and loss. Passing references occur in some reports to ferruginous horizons with oolitic hematite in Cretaceous Nubian sandstones of  the Plateau Province. No plotted locations, measured sections, or sample analyses for such occurrences could be found in the available literature, nor were the Egyptian geologists contacted by Dames &Moore able to provide information regarding exposed mineralization. However, the sedimentary horizon that contain oolitic iron ore at Aswan also crosses Sinai and wants at least reconnaissance exploration. Micaceous hematite is known to occur in quartz veins in eastern Sinai, in granite at Gebel Abu Mesud. Comparable host granites appear in west Sinai. While known occurrences of iron mineralization of this type in Sinai are not economic, they sustain major mines else there in the world. The potential presence of slightly concealed, higher grade, larger iron-bearing quartz veins in the crystalline rocks of south Sinai warrants reconnaissance investigation