Bismuth‐melt trails trapped in cassiterite–quartz veins

Abstract

Native bismuth in the form of metallic melt has been considered instrumental to the formation of some metallic ore deposits via a mechanism dubbed the ?Liquid Bismuth Collector Model.? Here, we provide petrographical documentation of trail?forming, ?m?sized blebs of native bismuth in cassiterite?quartz veins from the Santa B?rbara greisen Sn deposit in the Rond?nia tin province of northern Brazil. These inclusions suggest the trapping of a Bi melt that took place during vein formation, in a mecha? nism similar to the entrapment of fluid inclusions