Metals in the earth's crust are very unevenly distributed and, traditionally, a small number of ore deposits, districts or countries have dominated the world supply and have influenced commodity prices. The importance of exceptionally large, or rich, deposits has greatly increased in the age of globalization when a small number of international corporations dominate the metals market, based on few very large ore deposits, practically anywhere in the world. Search for giant orebodies thus drives the exploration industry: not only the in-house teams of large internationals, but also hundreds of junior companies hoping to sell their significant discoveries to the "big boys". Geological characteristics of giant metallic deposits and their setting and the politico-economic constraints of access to and exploitation in prospective areas have been a "hot topic" in the past fifteen years, but the knowledge generated and published has been one-sided, scattered and fragmented. This is the first comprehensive book on the subject that provides body of solid facts rather than rapidly changing theories, written by author of the Empirical Metallogeny book series and founder of the Data Metallogenica visual knowledge system on mineral deposits of the world, who has had an almost 40 years long international academic and industrial experience. The book will provide abundant material for comparative research in metallogeny, practical information for the explorationists as to where to look for the "elephants", and some inspiration for commodity investors.

The Joint 6th Biennial SGA-SEG Meeting was held in Krakow in August 2001. This volume contains 274 extended abstracts, grouped thematically under 18 session titles covering topics such as lead-zinc deposits; metamorphism affecting mineral deposits; and the environmental aspects of mining.

The Deposit Modeling Program was founded by UNESCO-IUGS with the major aim to disseminate knowledge from scientists in more developed countries to their counterparts from less developed ones. A fringe benefit of this effort was the compilation of information on existing models and promotion of topical workshops in developing countries. This book is the result of one such workshop that took place in Delhi and Udaipur, India, in December 2001. Sediment-hosted Lead-Zinc Sulphide Deposits compiles the work of renowned economic geologists from three continents. The authors highlight the recent advances in the understanding of the temporal and tectono-stratigraphic distribution of sediment-hosted Pb-Zn sulphide ores and processes governing their genesis. The first section comprises five chapters covering some of the most important deposits of this class in Australia and Canada in detail, emphasizing their genetic models. It also includes a paper on the "geoenvironmental model," which concerns behavior before mining and resulting from mining, processing, and smelting. The second section discusses the mineralized terranes in the state of Rajasthan, northwest India, which host three major sulphide deposits. This reference is packed with color and black and white photographs, illustrations, charts, and graphs, making it a valuable, up-to-date resource for any geologist or geotechnical scientist studying major mineral deposits.

The Development Potential of Precambrian Mineral Deposits covers several aspects of Precambrian mineral resource potential and assessment towards mineral exploration and mineral reserves. This book contains 27 chapters and begins with an overview of the world production and consumption of certain minerals. The next chapters describe the physical and chemical characteristics of certain mineral ores, as well as the mineral content of certain rock assemblages. These topics are followed by discussions of the geographical distribution of some ores, including discovered metal bearing zones in Africa. Considerable chapters are devoted to exploration techniques in tropical, temperate, and sub-arctic Precambrian areas. The remaining chapters examine the action of metamorphic and other geological processes in mobilizing ore minerals. The book will prove useful to geologists, researchers, and geology students.