• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.355-366
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• 2024

As the importance of silica is increasing in digital world and other sector, prospecting of silica is the initial process for silica exploration. For prospecting of silica, the Naudanda Quartzite was studied thoroughly. The potential of silica content in the Naudanda Quartzite is presented in very few reports and literatures. Therefore, the study was carried out along the Siddartha Highway and other local roads around the Bhalu Pahad area. The area comprises of mainly phyllite, metasandstone and medium- to coarse-grained orthoquartzite of the Lesser Himalayan metasedimentary sequence. Here orthoquartzite is targeted for the prospecting of silica as quartzite constitutes more than 90% quartz minerals. The study was carried out to prospect the silica resource and compute the mineral reserve in the area. From the route map prepared at 1:2,000-scale along the Bhalu Pahad-Haripala section and columnar section, it is found that the true thickness of the Naudanda Quartzite is 760 m. A geological map was prepared at 1:25,000 scale, and 15 quartzite samples were taken from suitable locations preventing stratigraphical reoccurrence. Five samples were taken randomly from folded zone. Silica grains were counted on the basis of fleet method after thin section preparation of 15 individual samples. More than 95% silica is present on an average. Again, silica content of 5 samples out of 15 were tested chemically and found more than 95% silica concentration. For reserve calculation, silica grade was taken 95% and the reserve was computed on the basis of three cross-sections. It is found that the total volume tonnage is 2.6 billion ton of silica content, and concluded that the silica present in the rock is economic and minable.