The objectives of the Synthesis of the Metallogeny of Major Mining Districts are:

• To synthesize the history, geology and metallogeny of key mining districts
• To provide a summary of effective exploration methods
• To identify the exploration potential for known and new deposit-types
• To define knowledge gaps of thematic and applied research at the district and deposit scale
• To construct a deposit/occurrence database containing key geological and exploration parameters
• To provide a GIS database of geological, geochemical and geophysical parameters.

The major areas of geoscience addressed by this module of the project are listed below. However, not all of these area are populated for each synthesis because of a number of factors that include availability of data (e.g. mineral deposits and occurrence database) and knowledge (e.g. exploration methods, areas of mineral potential).

• Introduction and history
• Mineral deposits and occurrences
  • Grade and tonnage statistics
  • Deposit classification and description
  • Deposit distribution
• Geological settings of different deposit-types
• Genetic models
• Summary of effective exploration methods
  • Geological
  • Surficial and bedrock geochemistry
  • Geophysical (airborne and ground)
• Potential for known deposit-types and new deposit-types
• Knowledge gaps of thematic and applied research at the district and deposit scale

• Gold
• Ni-Cu-PGE
• VMS
• SEDEX
• MVT
• Iron Oxide Copper-Gold