Formation of Li-bearing pegmatites in the Arabian Shield: A case study from the Mount Ablah, Asir Terran, Saudi Arabia

There is currently no lithium mining activity in Saudi Arabia, although the Arabian Shield is rich in rocks suitable for economic concentrations of lithium, including pegmatites, greisen and rare metal granites, as well as ancient brines and salt deposits. The present work is the first to report lepidolite, the major lithium-bearing mineral, hosted by the Mount Ablah pegmatite, located north of the Ablah Graben, Asir Terrane. The pegmatitic rocks represent the dominant rock types in the Mount Ablah, where they are strongly brecciated along the margins and surrounded by alteration zone of sericitized rocks, and cross-cut by a number of quartz veins. They are also covered by a massive muscovite-fluorite body, here described as a greisen deposit. The studied pegmatites are medium- to coarse-grained and are of two types: lepidolite-bearing and lepidolite-absent pegmatites. The lepidolite-bearing pegmatite consists of K-feldspar, muscovite, quartz and lepidolite, whereas the lepidolite-abse...