Tungsten-Bearing Wodginite from the Kester Deposit, Eastern Siberia, Russia

• Published in: Minerals
• Main Authors: Viktor I. Alekseev, Ivan V. Alekseev
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2023
• Subjects: wodginite group; wolframowodginite; lithium-fluoric granite; tungsten; tantalum; Kester deposit; Mineralogy; QE351-399.2; Yakut; Yakutia; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/min13020231; https://doaj.org/article/1e86eaff599445888617012245995886

Li-F granites from the Kester deposit (Yana Plateau in Yakutia, Russia) are proved to be connected with a rare-metal complex of accessory minerals: montebrasite, columbite-(Mn), columbite-(Fe), tantalite-(Mn), Ta-bearing cassiterite, U-bearing microlite, W-bearing ixiolite, niobian ferberite, U–Hf-rich zircon, and Ta-bearing rutile. Accessory wodginite was discovered at depths of up to 150 m in association with tantalite-(Mn), columbite-(Mn), and cassiterite. According to the content of WO 3 (1.23%–3.33%) and the values of Mn/(Mn + Fe t ) and Ta/(Ta + Nb), Yakut wodginite is an intermediate mineral between wodginite and a hypothetical mineral of the wodginite group—”wolframowodginite”. The discovery of tungsten-bearing wodginite at the Kester deposit confirms the widespread presence of tungstic and tungsten-bearing accessory minerals in Li-F granites in the Russian Far East. It also serves as an indicator of rare-metal tin-tantalum-bearing granites and pegmatites.