The discovery and significance of the beryllium mineralization in the middle part of the central Gangdise metallogenic zone, Xizang

The potential clues for beryllium mineralization are newly found in the middle part of the central Gangdise metallogenic zone, Xizang. The beryllium-mineralized bodies herein are hosted in the coarsely granular and pegmatoid two-mica granites emplaced in the metamorphic Palaeozoic strata, occur as rock bodies and rock veins, and are well-defined with the wall rocks. There occur in the wall rocks both hydrothermal alteration and thermal metamorphism, including hornfeldsization, silicification, tourmalinization, garnetization, andalusitization and cordieritization. The "mica line" is also observed between the beryllium-mineralized bodies and wall rocks. The minerals wolframite and spodumene are scarce in the beryllium-mineralized bodies, with additional a small amount of fluorite. The economic minerals include niobium-tantalum minerals and beryllium-bearing minerals. The discovery in this study has revealed that there is a great prospecting potentiality not only for lead, zinc, iron, molybdenum and gold deposits, but also for beryllium deposits in the central Gangdise metallogenic zone. Furthermore, this discovery also has an important geological significance to the better understanding of the tectonicmagmatic evolution and mineralization, collision and mountain building and metallogenesis in the southern part of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.