The garnet placer deposit from SE Spain: Industrial recovery and geochemical features

Abstract

The only economic deposit of garnets in Spain is located in the Almería province (SE Spain), forming part of the Neogene Volcanic Complex of El Hoyazo. Due to the high quantity and diversity of the almandine garnets, this area is unique. Garnet occurs as isolated euhedral crystals in the volcanic rock, as the principal component of metapelitic xenoliths in dacite, and as a terrigenous deposit formed by the erosion of the volcanic dome. In this work, we provide new mineralogical and geochemical data, which should be taken into account during the processing and recovery of the garnet placer.