The Pedra Preta wolframite deposit contains the main known tungsten reserves of the Brazilian Amazon. It is Iocated near the western border of the 1.88Ga old Musa grafite, in the Rio Maria region, south of the Carajás Mineral Province. The mineralization occurs in a vein system thats cuts at depht the cupola of the granitic body and above it rocks of the Andorinhas Supergroup whose meta-sandstones are of archean age (2.9 Ga). At least four hydrothermal events have been identified in the Pedra Preta area which are related to severa' quartz vein generations. The first event is represented by the early EHV veins that are basically made up of quartz 1 and have been generated, prior to the emplacement of the Musa grafite, from metamorphic aquo-carbonic fluids. CH4 was the dominant carbonic phase. Fluid inclusions from the quartzite quartz grains showed H2O + CH4 with lesser amounts of CO2. The second event was associated to the Musa intrusion and involved F-poor aqueous fluids exsolved from the erystallizing magma. Once the granite was broken by hydraulic fracturing, fluids that circulated around the pluton moved towards it, mixed with the magmatic aqueous solutions and flowed through the open spaces where quartz 3 was precipitated. The late hydrothermal veins (LHV) began then to be formed. These Ca-free fluids had moderate salinity and were virtually devoid of carbonic phases. δ18O values for quartz 2 (present in the grafite) and quartz 3 (present in the LHV at greater depths) are comparable (7.6‰) indicating reequilibration with dominantly magmatic fluids. The third event was induced by the tectonic reopening of the fracture planes where the quartz 3 had been deposited. They served as escape tone for metamorphic fluids composed of different proportions of CH4, CO2 and H2O. The aqueous phase rnight have been of low salinity although containing Ca++. Temperatures varied from 230 to 400°C and pressures estimates fell in > 2,5 Kbar. Oxygen fugacity values of 10-38 to 10-37 bar indicated reducing conditions. As the metamorphic fluids entered the Pedra Preta system, they were oxidized, though, at least initially, the process had been less complete in the upper part of the deposit. Oxygen fugacities dropped to 10-27 bar by the time the wolframite began to precipitate from acidic solutions (pH 4-5) under therrnal conditions of 300-400°C and pressures > 2.5Kbar. δ18O values for quartz 3 of the LHV (9.0-9.6‰) at lower depths suggested reequilibration with fluids having more metamorphic components than those of greater depths. Soon after or partially contemporaneous with the wolfrarnite deposition, occurred a F-metasomatism brought about by a hypothetical magmatic pulse. Granitic rocks were then greisenized in the lower part of the deposit to a mineral assemblage in which topaz, fluorite and sericite are present, whereas in the upper part these minerais precipitated within the LHV as well as in the host walls. The fluids of this hydrothermal stage were aquo-carbonic, suggesting that mixing with the metamorphic solutions continued, but the carbonic phase was exclusively composed of CO2. Xco2 dropped to values below 0.01 by the time fluorite was formed. Aqueous phase was enriched in Ca++ and Na+. Temperatures did not change much from the deposition of wolframite to the deposition of topaz (300-350°C), but fell to about 250°C when fluorite started precipitating. Despite similar prevailing conditions both in the lower and higher parts of the deposit, irnportant features are recorded that differentiate these two domains. The most striking difference is the much more abundant wolframite precipitation in the upper part. Besides the structural control, the mineralization might also have been controlled by the more frequent metavolcanic lens of the Babaçu Group in the upper part, from which the W-bearing aquo-carbonic solutions leached iron for the precipitation of wolframite. The last hydrothermal event, that resulted from tectonic relaxation probably of Brasiliano age, gave origin to the so-called final veins (FHV) which constitute a net of microveinlets composed of quartz 4, chlorite, sulfides, carbonates and quartz 5. High salinity fluids (30 weigth % NaCl) with high concentration of Ca++ and Na+ acted upon the rocks at conditions of 1.5 Kbar and temperatures beiow 250°C, and may represent connate waters or even deep groundwaters. Chioritization and sulfidization were the most important processes related to this hydrothermal event which ied to the precipitation of chlorite (that replaced feldspars and micas in the host rocks or filled intergranular spaces within the veins) as well as sulfides (mainly chalcopyrite and pyrite). As the system finally died out, drusy quartz 5 was formed trapping low salinity fluids (<5 weigth % NaCl). Pressures were around 5 bar and temperatures reached no more than 100°C suggesting contribution of superficial meteoric waters.
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