Deposit types/Lithium, Caesium, Tantalum

Lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite

Very coarse-grained granite bodies, small but rich in rare minerals, that carry lithium, caesium and tantalum.

What it is

Very coarse-grained granite bodies, small but rich in rare minerals, that carry lithium, caesium and tantalum.1

How it forms

They are the last, most fractionated melts from aluminium-rich granites, themselves made by melting sedimentary rock when continents or microcontinents collide. The melt crystallises as zoned bodies with spodumene, petalite or lepidolite for lithium, pollucite for caesium and columbite-tantalite for tantalum.1

Host rocks

Aluminium-rich (S-type) granites and the metamorphic rocks around them.1

Where it forms

Hinterlands of orogenic belts formed by plate collision.1

How old

LCT pegmatites cluster at about 2640, 1800, 960, 485 and 310 Ma1

Mines of this type

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Mines

An example ofPilgangooraSee Pilgangoora, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofWodginaSee Wodgina, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofMt CattlinSee Mt Cattlin, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofBald HillSee Bald Hill, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofKathleen ValleySee Kathleen Valley, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofMount MarionSee Mount Marion, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofGoulaminaSee Goulamina, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofMibraSee Mibra, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofKentichaSee Kenticha, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofUisSee Uis, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofTancoSee Tanco, an example of lithium-caesium-tantalum (lct) pegmatite.1An example ofGreenbushesSee Greenbushes, an example of lithium-caesium-tantalum (lct) pegmatite.1

Sources

  1. Mineral Deposit Models for Resource Assessment, Chapter O: Mineral-Deposit Model for Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum Pegmatites (SIR 2010-5070-O) US Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Salar de Atacama, Chile, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); San Francisco, California: the Golden Gate bay area. Photograph, ca. 1880., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Elektrisk malmletning. Undersökningar på Billiton, 1920., Okänd / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).