Expanding boundaries of exploration -

doi:10.1038/ngeo2006

Mineral exploration is pushing new frontiers. Given a poor track record on land, mining practises should be honed on home soil before venturing into the oceans.

Full text - Information storage | PDF (313 KB) - Information storage

Metals for a low-carbon society -

Olivier Vidal, Bruno Goffé & Nicholas Arndt

doi:10.1038/ngeo1993

Renewable energy requires infrastructures built with metals whose extraction requires more and more energy. More mining is unavoidable, but increased recycling, substitution and careful design of new high-tech devices will help meet the growing demand.

Full text - Information storage | PDF (356 KB) - Information storage

Road map to mineral supply -

Richard Herrington

doi:10.1038/ngeo1947

Access to metals and minerals is restricted mostly by geopolitical constraints, and not by a shortage of mineable deposits. In the face of rising demand, a full inventory of these commodities — in the Earth's crust as well as in recyclable waste — is urgently required.

Full text - Information storage | PDF (817 KB) - Information storage

Economic geology: Copper conundrums -

Cin-Ty A. Lee

doi:10.1038/ngeo2039

The metal content of magmas erupted at subduction zone arcs is thought to be derived from the mantle. A correlation between crustal thickness and copper content in arc magmas worldwide, however, reveals an important role for the crust in the upper plate.

Full text - Information storage | PDF (1,095 KB) - Information storage

Economic geology: Gilded by earthquakes -

Dave Craw

doi:10.1038/ngeo1775

Gold is often deposited in Earth's crust by fluids that percolate through rock fractures. Earthquakes cause rock fractures to expand rapidly and could cause the fluids to evaporate, triggering almost instantaneous gold deposition.

Full text - Information storage | PDF (320 KB) - Information storage

Continental-root control on the genesis of magmatic ore deposits -

W. L. Griffin, G. C. Begg & Suzanne Y. O'Reilly

doi:10.1038/ngeo1954

Some giant ore deposits are formed from magma, but the precise controls on their formation are unclear. A Perspective article analyses the distribution of some diamond, platinum-group element and gold deposits worldwide, and suggests that the structure and composition of sub-continental lithospheric mantle could play a role in ore genesis.

Abstract - Information storage | Full text - Information storage | PDF (2,130 KB) - Information storage

Giant ore deposits formed by optimal alignments and combinations of geological processes -

Jeremy P. Richards

doi:10.1038/ngeo1920

Giant ore deposits are priority targets for mining companies. A review of the characteristics of several giant porphyry and epithermal deposits worldwide suggests that they formed from ordinary processes that were fortuitously operating at maximum efficiency.

Abstract - Information storage | Full text - Information storage | PDF (437 KB) - Information storage

Triggers for the formation of porphyry ore deposits in magmatic arcs -

Jamie J. Wilkinson

doi:10.1038/ngeo1940

Porphyry ore deposits supply much of the copper, molybdenum, gold and silver used by humans. A review of the main processes that trigger porphyry ore formation suggests that sulphide saturation of the magmas that supply the metals could be the overriding mechanism that helps control the temporal and spatial distribution of the ore deposits.

Abstract - Information storage | Full text - Information storage | PDF (636 KB) - Information storage

High gold concentrations in sulphide-bearing magma under oxidizing conditions -

Roman E. Botcharnikov, Robert L. Linnen, Max Wilke, Francois Holtz, Pedro J. Jugo & Jasper Berndt

doi:10.1038/ngeo1042

Magma transports metals to the Earth's surface to form ore deposits, but only sulphide-undersaturated magmas were thought to be capable of generating large amounts of ore. Laboratory experiments indicate that large volumes of gold ore can also be generated by sulphide-saturated magma, if the redox conditions of the magma are suitable.

First paragraph - Information storage | Full text - Information storage | PDF (355 KB) - Information storage

Magmatic—hydrothermal origin of Nevada's Carlin-type gold deposits -

John L. Muntean, Jean S. Cline, Adam C. Simon & Anthony A. Longo

doi:10.1038/ngeo1064

During the Eocene, profuse magmatism and hydrothermal activity in the Great Basin of western North America produced Earth's second largest concentration of gold in Nevada. An integration of mineral analyses, experimental data and age and isotope data suggests a magmatic source for these deposits.

Abstract - Information storage | Full text - Information storage | PDF (1,587 KB) - Information storage

Sulphide magma as a source of metals in arc-related magmatic hydrothermal ore fluids -

Olivier Nadeau, Anthony E. Williams-Jones & John Stix

doi:10.1038/ngeo899

The metal content of ore deposits formed during subduction-zone volcanism was thought to be established when the ore fluid separates from the parent magma. Analyses of metal concentrations in erupted melts and the volcanic gases emitted after an eruption in Indonesia reveal that metals can be added to the ore fluid later, during mixing with separated melts.

Abstract - Information storage | Full text - Information storage | PDF (508 KB) - Information storage