Nusab El-Balgum area, south of the Western Desert of Egypt

Gabel Nusab El Balgum is located in the northern part of Bir Safsaf Area Southwestern Desert, Egypt (about 600 km southwest of Aswan City) and covers an area of about 40 km2. A few workers have investigated the Nusab El Balgum Area from the mineralogical and geochemical point of view. The area consists mainly of Devonian sandstone, PermöTriassic volcanic rocks, altered granitic rocks and post-granitic dykes. The altered granitic rocks (silici¿ed and kaolinized) have undergone several hydrothermal alteration processes and were subjected to different types of alteration (hematitization, carbonatization, kaolinization, sericitization and silici¿cation) and are characterized by extreme enrichment in rare metals (such as Zr, Nb, Y and REEs). Bastnaesite, parisite, fergusonite, columbite, hydrothermal zircon, monazite and xenotime are common in the silici¿ed and kaolinized granites