Episodic Nb–Ta mineralisation in South China: Constraints from in situ LA–ICP–MS columbite-tantalite U–Pb dating

South China hosts many Nb–Ta deposits that show evidence for episodic mineralization, which were generated during the emplacement of composite granites. To constrain the spatio-temporal distribution of Nb–Ta mineralisation in the region and to identify future targets for mineral exploration, we used in situ laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy to date 23 columbite-tantalite group mineral (CGM) samples from 14 Nb–Ta...