Simplified definition Quartz and carbonate veins with valuable amounts of gold and silver, in faults and shear zones located within deformed terrains of ancient to recent orogenic  reenstone belts. Scientific definition Greenstone-hosted quartz-carbonate vein deposits (GQC) are a sub-type of lode gold deposits (Poulsen et al., 2000) (Fig. 1). They are also known as mesothermal, orogenic (mesozonal and hypozonal - the near surface orogenic epizonal Au-Sb-Hg deposits (Groves et al., 1998) are not included in this synthesis), lode gold, shear-zone-related quartz-carbonate or gold-only deposits (Roberts, 1987; Colvine, 1989; Kerrich and Wyman, 1990; Robert, 1990; Kerrich and Feng, 1992; Hodgson, 1993, Kerrich and Cassidy, 1994; Robert, 1995; Groves et al., 1998; Hagemann and Cassidy, 2000; Kerrich et al., 2000; Goldfarb et al., 2001; Groves et al., 2003; Goldfarb et al., in press; and references therein).

Intrusion-related gold systems (IRGS) are a newly-defined (1999) deposit classification (based mainly on well-studied deposits in Alaska and Yukon) that is already mired in confusion, nomenclature uncertainty and misapplication. Increasingly, gold deposits are mis-assigned an IRGS classification because: 1) the nomenclature of intrusion-related gold models has been rapidly evolving; 2) the characteristics of the classification are broadly defined to include a wide range of deposit types that overlap with other gold deposit types; and 3) granitoid intrusions are common features of orogenic belts and are an obvious fluid source for any proximal gold occurrence. 

Reduced intrusion-related gold deposits have become a new, low-grade, large-tonnage exploration target during the last decade. The best recognized examples of such deposits are recognized throughout the Tintina Gold Province of the northern North American Cordillera. Because such examples may have many features in common with orogenic gold deposits, such as anomalous Bi, W, and Te,

Месторождения золота, локализующиеся в метаморфических толщах, на западе классифицируемые как «орогенный»1 и связанный с восстановленной интрузией («Reduced Intrusion-related Gold Systems», далее – RIRGS2) типы, играют ведущую роль в экономическом отношении, на них приходится более 40 % добычи золота в мире, за исключением россыпей и месторождения Витватерсранд (ЮАР) [Бортников и др., 2016; Чугаев, 2024; Frimmel, 2008; Phillips, 2013; Lipson, 2014; Goldfarb et.al., 2014]. Изучение генезиса руд является важным не только в понимании процессов образования месторождений, но и в выборе стратегии поисковых и геолого-разведочных работ.

This volume brings together a collection of papers that summarize current ideas and recent progress in the study of granite-related mineralization systems. They provide a combination of field, experimental and theoretical studies. Papers are grouped according to the main granite-related ore systems: granite-pegmatite, skarn and greisen-veins, porphyry, orogenic gold, intrusion-related, epithermal and porphyry-related gold and base metal, iron oxide–copper–gold (IOCG), and special case studies. The studies provide a broad spread in terms of both space and time, highlighting granite-related ore deposits from Europe (Russia, Sweden, Croatia and Turkey), the Middle East (Iran), Asia (Japan and China) and South America (Brazil and Argentina) and spanning rocks from Palaeoproterozoic to Miocene in age.