Lithium resources support the development of high‐technology industries. China has abundant lithium resources which are mainly distributed in Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan and Jiangxi. Salt lakes in China have significant lithium reserves, but lithium is mainly produced from hard rock lithium deposits because the extraction from salt lakes requires further improvements. The hard rock lithium deposits mainly occur in granitic pegmatite in the Altay region of Xinjiang and the Jiajika deposit in western Sichuan Province; they mainly formed in the Mesozoic and occurred in a relatively stable stage during orogenic processes. On the basis of the information from 151 lithium deposits or spots, 14 lithium metallogenic series were identified, and granitic pegmatite, granite, and sedimentary types were considered to be the main prediction types of lithium resources. Twelve lithium mineralization belts were divided and a series of maps showing the lithium metallogenetic regularity in China were drawn. We conclude that the hard rock and brine type of lithium resources possibly have a similar lithium source related to magmatism. The metallogenic features of the lithium in China were related with the distinct history of tectonic‐magmatic activity in China. This study benefits the assessment of, and prospecting for, lithium resources in China.
On the basis of field geological studies of the granotoids in the region, mineralogical, petrological, geochemical (including stable isotope geochemical) and isotopic geochronological investigations were carried out on selected representative granitic bodies of various types. The authors have concluded that, apart from the bodies of the orogenic granitoid series, there also exist intrusions of the anorogenic granitoid series in the region. The intrusives of the two series were formed not only in different ages and tectonic environments, but also were derived from different sources of materials. Moreover, they are associated with different mineralizations, belonging to different minerologenetic series(Cheng et al., 1983). They show distinctly a series of discriminative criteria. The problems under discussion in the present paper are of important theoretical and practical significance in the studies of granites of the orogenic belt, particularly the studies of the genesis and related metallogeny of the granites of the region.
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