VOLUME EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

Geochemistry plays an essential role in our understanding of processes that produce economic concentrations
of minerals whether by hydrothermal, magmatic, metamorphic, hydraulic (both surficial and subterranean) or
weathering agents, or a combination of these. Geochemistry also contributes importantly to exploration. All of
these aspects are thoroughly discussed in this volume by acknowledged experts. The objective is to produce a
treatise on ore deposits focusing on their geochemistry but also including geological models for a complete
understanding of their genesis and guides to their exploration. Many chapters constitute a timely update of the
popular ‘Geochemistry of Hydrothermal Ore Deposits’ edited by my PhD supervisor, Hubert L. Barnes, and last
published in a third edition in 1997. First, though, a short primer on what constitutes an ore deposit and what
makes them of economic value.
Potentially economic concentrations of naturally occurring minerals, referred to loosely as ‘ores’ or as ‘raw
materials,’ have driven economies since the beginnings of civilizations. By strict definition, such as that of the
American Geological Institute, in order for an unusual concentration of minerals to be called an ‘ore,’ it has to
be capable of being recovered, processed, and marketed at a reasonable profit. Otherwise, the deposit is just an
interesting concentration of minerals. Examples abound of mineral deposits that are large but of too low metal
(or other elements) content to be economic, deposits that have very high contents of valuable minerals but are
too small to be mined economically and still others that may be both large and rich but are not economic either
because they pose serious problems for their recovery, have unacceptable impact on the environment, have
irresolvable metallurgical problems, or do not have a sufficiently large market. However, with the passage of
time and further research, yesterday’s interesting concentrations of minerals can become tomorrow’s ores.
Advances in mining technology have provided access to previously unrecoverable deposits. For example,
decades ago, copper contents of about 1 wt.% were required to mine disseminated copper deposits, so-called
porphyry coppers, but today grades as low as 0.4% copper can be economic. A nickel deposit in Finland is being
mined at 0.3% Ni. Serious efforts have gone into environmental amelioration. For example, some jurisdictions
require that a company establish a fund to return a mining site to an acceptable natural state when a mine
closes. Where previously, very fine grained deposits of minerals were a bane to mineral processors, today some
of this wealth is being unlocked through advances such as hydrometallurgy whereby cocktails of aqueous
solutions at various temperatures and pressures selectively extract metals – the inverse of hydrothermal ore
deposition. Market dominations come and go. For example, China, who for years controlled the market for
Rare Earth Elements (REE) supplying more that 90% of the world demand, recently restricted exports with the
result that elsewhere old unprofitable REE mines are being reopened and exploration for new deposits has
accelerated.
The terms ‘ore deposits geology,’ ‘mineral deposits geology,’ and ‘economic geology’ are used more or less
interchangeably. The two leading journals in the field, ‘Mineralium Deposita’ and ‘Economic Geology,’ publish
both applied and theoretical papers. Regardless of the terminology that is preferred, two important aspects of
deposits are their grade and tonnage. The grade is the average concentrations of the commodities of interest,
usually cited to a certain cutoff value and to a certain level of confidence. Average grade for a specific tonnage
provides a meaningful measure of its content, whereas statements such as ‘up to x%’ are meaningless. The
tonnage is the amount of ore calculated under the same restrictions. However, in most ore deposits, especially
the large and low grade ones, there is waste rock to be removed to get at the ore. This ‘stripping ratio’ of waste/
ore can be anywhere from 1 to as high as 7. Economically, it costs just as much to remove a ton of waste rock as
it does a ton of ore, which dilutes the value of a deposit.
Two kinds of models, descriptive and genetic, are commonly developed for different kinds of ore deposits.
Both are important and are commonly confused. A descriptive model, as the name implies, describes the
physical and compositional attributes of a deposit typically with maps and sections that are simplified from

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detailed geological maps and sections. The model offers no opinions as to how the deposit was formed. Its
purpose is to aid the explorer or researcher in recognizing an unusual geological occurrence as potentially
belonging to a certain type of ore deposit. A genetic model, on the other hand, tries to explain the components
of a descriptive model in terms of the process(es) that were responsible for forming an ore deposit.
The name applied to a type of ore deposit should but does not always derive from its descriptive model. The
name has to be able to withstand changes in the understanding of how ores are made. A case in point is the
copper, lead, zinc, silver, and gold massive sulfide deposits in volcanic terrains. These are properly described as
‘volcanic-hosted’ or ‘volcanic-associated’ massive sulfides but some cling to the former genetic name of
‘volcanogenic’ massive sulfide. Either way, the abbreviation ‘VMS’ (or ‘VHMS’ as used in Australia) is com-
monly employed. ‘Volcanogenic’ presupposes it is undeniable that these types of deposits are products of
volcanism. This may be true but some researchers believe that magmatic intrusions play an active role and
others point to the abundance of sediments having an important influence on how some VMS deposits are
formed. Too, genetic concepts change with time. In the west, prior to the mid-twentieth century, it was generally
accepted that VMS deposits were produced by large-scale replacement of volcanic rocks until R. L. Stanton and
others pointed out that there was indisputable evidence that the massive parts of the deposits were formed by
hot springs on and not beneath the volcanic seafloor. Stockwork veins and dissemination of sulfides did form
beneath the seafloor in highly altered rocks. This viewpoint was expounded by Japanese geologists in the early
1900s but was ignored by researchers in the west, perhaps because they did not read Japanese papers. The
discovery in the late 1970s of high temperature hot springs (‘black smokers’) depositing base and precious
metals on the modern ocean floor having close similarity to ancient VMS deposits would seem to have sealed
the arguments about how VMS deposits are formed.
This volume 13 on mineral deposits falls naturally into three parts. The first part comprises seven chapters
dealing with geochemical concepts that are applicable to a range of deposit types, the second systematically
describes a wide range of deposit types and discusses genetic concepts emphasizing their geochemistry, and the
third comprises a single chapter that shows how geochemistry is used in exploration. Taken together, the 24
chapters in this volume offer a reasonably complete compendium on the geochemistry of ore deposits.
The volume opens (Chapter 13.1) with a discourse on how elements are extracted from a dilute source and
are deposited in high concentrations primarily through hydrothermal processes but also ventures into mag-
matic and surficial agents that are discussed in more detail in later chapters. In Chapter 13.2, the hydrothermal
theme is carried further by exploring the geochemistry of metal complexing in aqueous solutions by which
means many types of ores are formed. Stable isotopes of H, B, O, C, and S have traditionally been utilized to
understand ore genesis (see Chapter 13.3) and even contribute to exploration but, recently, nontraditional
stable isotopes of elements such as Cu, Fe, Zn, Mo, and Tl have shown much promise. Timing is of fundamental
importance to the understanding of ore-forming processes. Chapter 13.4 focuses on the rhenium–osmium
system that has been shown to be of great value for dating different components of ore deposits. Aqueous fluids
and gases, both hydrothermal and magmatic that carry ore elements, are commonly trapped as inclusions in
minerals of ore deposits and provide a wealth of information on ore formation (see Chapter 13.5). Similarly,
silicate, oxide, salt, and sulfide melts can be trapped in igneous phenocrysts offering an insight into the
magmatic processes involved in generating ores (Chapter 13.6). Hydrothermal ores are commonly trans-
formed by metamorphism, in some cases at very high temperatures and pressures. Chapter 13.7 describes
how to see through this metamorphic camouflage in order to better classify a deposit as to its type.
The second part on ore deposits systems opens with a treatment of how elements such as Ni, Cu, Cr, Ti, and
V are concentrated to economic levels in magmas (see Chapter 13.8). The chapter represents an interesting
transition from processes in part 1 to models, both descriptive and genetic, of part 2. This is followed by base
metal deposits in sediments, major sources of both Pb–Zn sulfides (see Chapter 13.9) and Cu sulfides (see
Chapter 13.10). Huge accumulations of ferromanganese nodules on the abyssal plains of the deep ocean floor
and crusts on seamounts (see Chapter 13.11) are a future source of a wide range of elements whose
concentrations are a consequence of geochemistry. Many of the potentially economic elements in nodules
and crusts are today recovered from magmatic and other ores on land. Geochemistry plays a huge role in the
understanding how marine phosphates are accumulated. Chapter 13.12 illustrates this with the Phosphoria
Formation in the USA. Iron, the fourth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and most important
industrially, is found in economic concentrations in several types of deposits but overwhelmingly these are
in sedimentary rocks (see Chapter 13.13) in which geochemistry plays a primary role in upgrading the
mineralization to ore. By far the greatest source of Cu and Mo is disseminations and veins of hydrothermal
sulfides in igneous intrusions forming porphyry deposits, commonly with significant concentrations of Au (see
 Volume Editor’s Introduction xxv

Chapter 13.14). Geochemistry plays an important role, too, in deciphering how various kinds of the most
important hydrothermal gold deposits are formed (see Chapter 13.15). These include epithermal, orogenic,
and ‘Carlin-type’ that collectively account for >75% of the world’s lode gold production. Another precious
metal, silver, is found in several types of high-grade lode vein deposits (see Chapter 13.16). Gold is also
concentrated in placers, deposits in which minerals were mechanically eroded and transported by fluvial
processes. The biggest accumulation of gold on our planet is the Archean Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa
where 50 kt of the metal has been mined since 1886 from a placer deposit that has been modified by basinal
fluids (see Chapter 13.17). VMS are an important source of base and precious metals (see Chapter 13.18).
High temperature hot springs (‘black smokers’) provide a modern analog for understanding the geochemistry
entailed in their formation. Chapter 13.19 presents 12 different styles of uranium mineralization in which
geochemistry plays a crucial role and, as well, in its exploration. A relatively newly recognized class of deposit
that is having a significant economic impact and in which geochemistry plays an important role is iron oxide–
copper–gold (IOCG) that can also contain significant concentrations of phosphates, REE, and uranium
(see Chapter 13.20). Rare element deposits of REE, Nb, Ta, Hf, and Zr form both by magmatic and hydro-
thermal processes (see Chapter 13.21). Chapter 13.22 examines the conditions under which widespread
evaporite salt beds produce economic concentrations of sodium carbonate, borate, and lithium salts. The
final chapter of this part (see Chapter 13.23) investigates the geochemical conditions that are necessary to
produce gems. This is particularly interesting because the essential elements that make a valuable gem
commonly follow different geochemical paths.
The volume concludes with Chapter 13.24, an in depth consideration of how geochemistry contributes to
exploration programs for ore deposits both at the regional and local scale.
Volume 13 demonstrates that geochemistry plays a vital role in research on the entire spectrum of ore
deposit types by explaining how elements of economic interest are extracted, in many cases transported, and are
concentrated to form ore deposits. The volume opens with seven chapters on basic geochemical principles that
can be applied hydrothermal, magmatic, and metamorphosed ores. The following 16 chapters apply these and
other geochemical and geological principles to a broad spectrum of ores that are being exploited on land and
future ores that are in the oceans. The final chapter brings it all together by showing how geochemistry is a
paramount tool in exploring for ores.
This volume is dedicated to Heinrich (Dick) Holland who made seminal contributions to, among many
other things, our understanding of the geochemistry of ore-forming processes. My personal connection with
Dick was through a student, Ann Brackman (now Thompson), that he supervised as an undergraduate. I had
the privilege to supervise her MSc thesis in the mid-1980s. My more or less annual passing on to Dick of news
about Ann inevitably opened the door to interesting discussions about ore deposits. He is greatly missed. A full
account of Dick’s contribution to science by executive editor Karl Turekian appears elsewhere in this Treatise.

Steven D. Scott
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada