Metal mining operations, in particular gold mining operations, use intensive ore control procedures in order to manage the extraction of ore zones from benches containing both ore and waste material. Typical grade control procedures rely on blast hole samples to indicate ore grade. Statistical techniques and geological controls are then used to create two-dimensional polygons, which indicate zones of material designated as ore. These ore-polygons are calculated using preblast material locations and are generally not corrected for rock movement caused by blasting.

The great surge of interest and activity in exploration for uranium deposits over the last decade has added significantly to our knowledge of uranium geology and the nature of uranium deposits. Much of the information that has been developed by government and industry programmes has not been widely available and in many cases has not had the benefit of systematic gathering, organization and publication.

The Kokchetav subduction-collision zone (KSCZ) hosting ultrahigh- and high-pressure (UHP-HP) rocks underwent the multistage Vendian-Early Ordovician geodynamic evolution. The subduction of the Paleoasian oceanic lithosphere bearing blocks of continental crust and the collision of the Kokchetav microcontinent with the Vendian-Cambrian island-arc system ultimately led to the formation and exhumation of UHP-HP rocks. In the Vendian-Early Cambrian the margin of the Kokchetav microcontinent deeply subsided into the subduction zone (150–200 km), which led to UHP-HP metamorphism (the maximum at about 535 Ma) and to partial melting of its rocks. In next stage (535–528 Ma), the generated acidic melts including blocks of UHP-HP rocks quickly, at a rate of 1 m/year, ascended to depths of 90 km for 1 Myr. During subsequent 5 Myr, the UHP-HP rocks ascending at a rate of 0.6–1 cm/year reached the base of the accretionary prism (depths of 60–30 km). Then, in the period from 528 to 500 Ma, the UHP-HP rocks ascended along the faulting structures of the lower crust as a result of jamming the subduction zone by the Kokchetav microcontinent. During the period from 500 to 480 Ma, the UHP-HP rocks became part of the upper crust. This process led to the KSCZ, which comprises terranes of the Vendian-Early Arenigian subduction zone occurring at different depths, separated by zones of garnet-mica and mica schists, blastomylonites and mylonites. In the same period there was a jump of subduction zone, which led to the formation of the Ordovician Stepnyak island arc. As a result of the Late Arenigian-Early Caradocian microcontinent-island arc collisions (480–460 Ma), the KSCZ overrided upon the fore-arc trough of the Stepnyak island arc to form a thick accretion-collision orogen, which having experienced anatectic melting was intruded by collisional granites of the Zerenda complex 460–440 Ma in age.

To many, palaeontology in general, and vertebrate palaeontology in particular, might be seen as devoted to discovering new fossils. After all, we read lavish press reports of each new species of dinosaur, fossil bird, or early human fossil that is recorded in the scientific literature. Discoveries from all continents attract attention, and none moreso than the continuing rich haul of remarkable new fossils from China. Our understanding of fossil vertebrate evolution has been much enriched by continuing discoveries of basal chordates from the Chengjiang and associated exceptional faunas of South China, as well as the feathered birds and dinosaurs from the Jehol assemblages in North China. But, as any young palaeobiologist knows, the discovery of new species is a minor concern. Much more exciting has been the blossoming of new numerical techniques that extend the reach of studies in macroevolution and palaeobiology further than might have been imagined even ten years ago.