The H/F ratio as an indicator of contrasted wolframite deposition mechanisms

Abstract

Abstract Understanding wolframite deposition mechanisms is a key to develop reliable exploration guides for W. In quartz veins from the Variscan belt of Europe and elsewhere, wolframites have a wide range of compositions, from hubnerite- (MnWO4) to ferberite-rich (FeWO4). Deposition style, source of Mn and Fe, distance from the heat/fluid source and temperature have been proposed to govern the wolframite H/F (hubnerite/ferberite ratio) defined as 100\u202fat. Mn/(Fe\u202f+\u202fMn). The Argemela mineralized district, located near the world-class Panasqueira W mine in Portugal, exposes a quartz-wolframite vein system in close spatial and genetic association with a rare-metal granite. Wolframite is absent as a magmatic phase, but W-rich whole-rock chemical data suggest that the granite magma is the source of W. Wolframite occurs as large homogeneous hubnerites (H/F\u202f=\u202f64–75%) coexisting with montebrasite, K-feldspar and cassiterite in the latest generation of intragranitic veins corresponding to magmatic fluids exsolved from the granite. Locally, early hubnerites evolve to late more Fe-rich compositions (H/F\u202f=\u202f45–55%). In a country rock vein, an early generation of Fe-rich hubnerites (H/F\u202f=\u202f50–63%) is followed by late ferberites (H/F\u202f=\u202f6–23%). Most Argemela wolframites have H/F ratios higher than at Panasqueira and other Variscan quartz-vein deposits which dominantly host ferberites. In greisens or pegmatitic veins, wolframites generally have intermediate H/F ratios. In those deposits, fluid-rock interactions, either involving country rocks (quartz-veins) or granite (greisens) control W deposition. In contrast, at Argemela, wolframite from intragranitic veins was deposited from a magmatic fluid. Differentiation of highly evolved peraluminous crustal magmas led to high Mn/Fe in the fluid which promoted the deposition of hubnerite. Therefore, the H/F ratio can be used to distinguish between contrasted deposition environments in perigranitic W ore-forming systems. Hubnerite is a simple mineralogical indicator for a strong magmatic control on W deposition.