This book would not have been written were it not for the everlasting patience of my dear wife Ramona, who tolerated my long-lasting mental absence when working behind the microscope or the connected computer and for tirelessly assisting me with data compilation. Our son Andre also took part in the data gathering, for which I am quite thankful. Many polished sections had not been looked after for decades and D. Lange (FU Berlin) provided much needed help in upgrading severely oxidised samples.

Since it is very difficult to gather the vast amount of different ore minerals included in this atlas, I am very much indepted to a number of colleagues, who provided many uncommon samples. In particular, the use of Ramdohr's famous research collection, now held at the Mineralogy Department of Heidelberg University, as well as the samples from the BGR and the private collection of T. Witzke proved to be valuable sources for many specimens. All published photo contributions are thankfully referenced below and cited in the text with the respective abbreviation in square brackets

Existing views on the tectonic evolution of the Central Asian orogenic belt (CAOB) are highly controversial and the Neoproterozoic to Cambrian stages of this evolution remain the most enigmatic. However, the views on the Paleozoic evolution of the CAOB crucially depend on these early stages, as different choices of the starting point lead to very dissimilar Paleozoic reconstructions. In this context numerous microcontinents with the Precambrian basement that are included in the mosaic structure of Kazakhstan, Tien Shan, Altai and Mongolia are of particular interest. We undertook a paleomagnetic, geochemical and geochronological study of the Neoproterozoic volcanics from one of these units — the Baydaric microcontinent in Central Mongolia. According to U–Pb (laser ablation) dating the age of the studied Dzabkhan Volcanics is about 770–805 Ma. Thermal demagnetization revealed that most of the studied samples retained a pre-tilting component, whose primary origin is supported by a conglomerate test. These new data, together with available geological information allow us to conclude that about 770–800 Ma ago the Baydaric domain was located at a latitude of 47 (+16/-12)° N and belonged to one of the following plates: India, South China, Tarim or Australia.

The Coastal Cordillera of Chile hosts several world-class FeOx CuAu deposits, including Candelaria, Mantos Blancos, Manto Verde, and El Soldado. Despite this comparatively little has been published on Chilean FeOx CuAu systems. This paper presents observations from two small Chilean FeOx CuAu deposits of Lower Cretaceous age; Panulcilio and Teresa de Colmo.

Panulcilio is a pseudo-stratiform FeOx CuAu / Skarn deposit located within the metamorphic aureole of a monzodioritic intrusive. Chalcopyrite, bornite, pyrite and pyrrhotite occur with calcic amphibole as disseminations and microveinlets in K-feldspar-albite-silica altered meta-andesites, magnetite-albite-scapolite rich mcta-andcsites and in overlying garnet skam.

Phalaborwa is the second largest copper mine in the world and the largest in Africa. The orebody is hosted by the Loolekop pipe within the Phalaborwa Complex, and is also mined for magnetite, apatite, vermiculite with a large array of by-products including gold, silver, phosphate, rare earth elements and uranium. The Phalaborwa Complex intruded Archaean basement at the edge of the Kaapvaal Craton in early Proterozoic times (2060±lMa) and consists of concentrically zoned, multiple intrusions which decrease in age from the margin to the core. The outer parts are predominantly clinopyroxenites, which have been variably metasomatised. Younger pegmatoidal pyroxenites intruded at three centres, including Loolekop, where foskcritc and a banded carbonatite were also emplaced, followed by a transgressive carbonatite that intruded as the last magmatic phase along fracture and shear zones. Economic copper mineralisation is hosted predominantly within the transgressive carbonatite as disseminated grains and veinlets of chalcopyrite, with lesser bornite and cubanite. Magnetite is a primary igneous phase in all rocks and is paragenetically earlier than the copper sulphides. The quality and quantity of magnetite is zoned and its distribution is antithetic to that of copper. Ore fluids are high temperature, highly saline, CO,-rich, magmatic-water dominated brines. The Complex and the mineralisation are interpreted to be products of the interaction of multiple pyroxenitic to carbonatitic magmas and their volatiles, which were ultimately derived from decompression melting of metasomatised mantle during extension at a transition from thick Archaean to thinner post-Archaean lithosphere. The orebody at Loolekop has many features including its age, giant size, pipe-like form, low ore grade, minor and major element associations and ore-fluid properties that are consistent with it being a proximal endmember of the widely recognised iron-oxide copper-gold deposit group. As such it helps explain characteristics such as the pipe-like brecciation as well as the common siting of these deposits at craton edges or other lithospheric boundaries.