Mineralisation at the Carrock Fell Tungsten Mine,N. England: Paragenetic,fluid inclusion and geochemical study

Tungsten ore at Carrock Fell Mine comprises wolframite and scheelite in polyminerallic quartz veins which traverse the Grainsgill Granite cupola and surrounding country rocks. In the veins, a wolframite-scheelite-apatite assemblage pre-dates a scheelite-arsenopyrite-pyrite (plus other sulphides) assemblages. Temperatures of mineralisation declined from a peak near 350°C to 170°C, and the hydrothermal fluid contained about 6 weight% NaCl and 3 wt% NaHCO₃. Contemporaneous greisenisation involved loss of Na, Cr, Ca and Ba from granite, but Si and K were retained while B, Be and Al increased slightly. Sn also increased but is always a trace constituent, and F appears to have decreased. Zones of intense alteration contain high concentrations of quartzhosted fluid inclusions resulting from penetration of the granite by fluid chemically similar to that in the vein quartz. The W-rich, Sn-poor nature of the mineralisation may relate to the weakly saline, F-deficient but CO₂-rich fluid chemistry. The alteration and mineralisation processes took place during late cooling of the Lower-Devonian Skiddaw Granite. Cross-cutting quartz-ankerite veins and argillitic zones which may be considerably younger than those producing the tungsten ore, have a distinct mineral suite lacking W and As and including major Pb and Zn. Temperatures at this late stage were below 150°C, and the fluid is estimated to have contained approximately 12 wt% NaCl and 15 wt% CaCl₂.