## 4 Results and Discussion
### Geochemical Variability of the Laterite Profile
#### 4.2.3. Saprolite  
The saprolite ore is characterized by a different geochemical signature. The zone shows enrichment in SiO\({}_{2}\) (33.38-52.54 wt%, mean 39.80 wt%) and MgO (20.92-35-27 wt%, mean 29.47 wt%). Silicate minerals, such as serpentine, mainly lizardite (Mg\({}_{3}\)Si\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{5}\)(OH)\({}_{4}\)) and chrysotile (Mg\({}_{3}\)(Si\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{5}\))(OH)\({}_{4}\)), are present in the horizon (Figure 5; Table 3). The goethite content in the horizon is decreasing. The Ni content is higher than in the limonite and is in a wide range of 0.44 to 3.10 wt%, mean 1.43 wt%. In contrast, the Co concentration decrease markedly, compared to the oxide ore, to a mean of 0.02 wt%. In goethite, was determined the lower concentration than in limonite the following components--Cr\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\) (mean 0.75 wt%), TiO\({}_{2}\) (0.01 wt%) and MnO (0.23 wt%). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Spot** & **SiO\({}_{2}\)** & **MgO** & **Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\)** & **Fe\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\)** & **NiO** & **CoO** & **Cr\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\)** & **MnO\({}_{2}\)** & **CaO** & **Total** \\ \hline DB24/101 & 5.40 & 1.98 & 0.30 & 25.71 & 18.94 & 2.43 & 0.20 & 38.47 & 0.09 & 93.64 \\ DB24/103 & 6.33 & 1.31 & 0.58 & 7.80 & 25.46 & 4.46 & 0.11 & 46.97 & 0.10 & 93.33 \\ DB-24/109 & 9.20 & 1.39 & 0.06 & 3.48 & 24.80 & 6.69 & 0.01 & 41.42 & 0.06 & 87.22 \\ DB-24/1110 & 4.72 & 1.67 & 0.11 & 1.33 & 23.98 & 6.39 & 0.04 & 46.66 & 0.06 & 85.10 \\ DB-24/154 & 3.30 & 1.41 & 0.05 & 0.78 & 23.24 & 7.58 & 0.00 & 48.00 & 0.06 & 84.53 \\ DB-24/155 & 0.86 & 1.31 & 0.03 & 0.51 & 20.46 & 8.56 & 0.05 & 55.10 & 0.15 & 87.22 \\ DB-24/145 & 0.21 & 0.89 & 0.01 & 0.00 & 21.84 & 7.71 & 0.02 & 53.80 & 0.09 & 84.79 \\ DB-24/146 & 1.28 & 1.07 & 0.04 & 1.83 & 19.92 & 9.71 & 0.04 & 53.08 & 0.23 & 87.34 \\ DB-24/151 & 4.97 & 1.73 & 0.06 & 0.00 & 23.23 & 8.91 & 0.03 & 51.27 & 0.08 & 90.43 \\ DB-24/153 & 3.35 & 4.81 & 0.01 & 5.51 & 17.24 & 9.49 & 0.01 & 49.60 & 0.06 & 90.13 \\ DB-24/172 & 7.07 & 5.12 & 0.05 & 11.10 & 20.17 & 4.19 & 0.04 & 42.41 & 0.06 & 90.30 \\ DB-24/173 & 6.22 & 4.82 & 0.03 & 6.86 & 20.55 & 3.97 & 0.03 & 43.13 & 0.08 & 85.74 \\ DB-24/174 & 9.63 & 3.31 & 0.04 & 8.41 & 22.36 & 5.58 & 0.02 & 41.73 & 0.08 & 91.27 \\ DB-24/182 & 9.06 & 1.98 & 0.17 & 5.70 & 23.81 & 6.75 & 0.02 & 38.96 & 0.11 & 86.83 \\ DB-24/183 & 3.68 & 1.15 & 0.09 & 2.47 & 22.96 & 6.43 & 0.00 & 46.64 & 0.06 & 83.62 \\ DB-24/188 & 12.93 & 5.43 & 0.07 & 2.05 & 21.04 & 6.00 & 0.03 & 40.61 & 0.07 & 88.36 \\ DB-24/189 & 0.29 & 1.05 & 0.04 & 0.21 & 22.08 & 7.38 & 0.02 & 53.12 & 0.07 & 84.44 \\ DB-24/190 & 2.80 & 0.59 & 0.03 & 1.25 & 16.90 & 1.08 & 0.02 & 63.84 & 0.03 & 86.82 \\ DB-24/192 & 8.56 & 4.02 & 3.47 & 1.86 & 23.90 & 2.43 & 0.04 & 41.22 & 0.07 & 85.76 \\ DB-24/193 & 7.01 & 3.00 & 2.91 & 1.62 & 24.02 & 2.80 & 0.05 & 43.48 & 0.04 & 85.05 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 6: Chemical composition (wt%) of asbolan–lithophore from the limonite horizons for DB-24 boreholes. Figure 5: Diffractograms of selected garnierite samples contain a serpentine group minerals. Qz—quartz; Ker-Pim—kerolite-pimelite; Lz-Nep—lizardite-népouite. Rich nickel mineralization is associated with garnierite veins occurring locally in the saprolite horizon, particularly in areas of partially unserpentinized peridotite (Figure 6A,B). Examination of garnierites (Table 7; Figure 6) collected from trenches (depths of 5-6.5 m.a.s.l.)