Partial melting, fractional crystallisation, liquid immiscibility and hydrothermal mobilisation – A ‘recipe’ for the formation of economic A-type granite-hosted HFSE deposits

Abstract

A number of A-type granites host resources of the high field strength elements (HFSE), including the rare earth elements (REE), that have been considered for economic exploitation. The best known of them is the Strange Lake pluton (Canada) with a resource of 20 Mt grading 1.44 wt% REE2O3, of which ~50% are heavy rare-earth oxides. In this paper, we examine the various processes that are likely to be responsible for the hyper-enrichment of the HFSE, starting with the generation of a parental magma through a very low degree of partial melting of a mantle plume or a metasomatically enriched mantle, in both cases, below a continental crust (continental rift). We trace the evolution of this magma (olivine nephelinite) through fractional crystallisation of olivine and clinopyroxene followed by plagioclase, K-rich alkali feldspar and arfvedsonite to the final residues of hyper-enriched HFSE granitic pegmatites. In so doing, we show that at least two additional steps are essential to the process of HFSE enrichment. The first of these is the abrupt termination of plagioclase crystallisation prior to the final consumption of Ca or assimilation of a Ca source and the resulting exsolution of an immiscible Ca-fluoride melt that sequesters the LREE and Y. The second of these steps is prolonged crystallisation of arfvedsonite, which delays saturation of the magma with an aqueous phase and ensures the development of an agpaitic assemblage of Na-bearing HFSE minerals (e.g., Na-zirconosilicates and Na-titanosilicates). Finally, we show that saturation of the magma with an aqueous‑carbonic fluid, which evolves to a very acidic composition, is an essential ingredient in the ‘recipe’ for the formation of an economic A-type granite-hosted HFSE deposit.