Increasingly explorationists are seeking to find new ore deposits in poorly prospected areas, be they geographically remote, such as in the Arctic, or geologically remote, such as those under sedimentary cover. Modern prospecting techniques, including low-detection-level geochemistry and the use of advanced geophysical instrumentation have greatly assisted explorers but fundamental to any soundly based exploration program remains an understanding of the geological framework of ore deposits. This allows the development of deposit models on macroscopic and mesoscopic scales.

At its 6th Biennial SGA Meeting in Krakow, Poland, August 2001, the Council of the Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA) decided to offer the organization of the 7th Biennial Meeting to Athens, Greece. “Mineral Exploration and Sustainable Development” was chosen as the general theme of the meeting, in the expectation that would attract economic geologists from academia, government, and industry to discuss current issues regarding exploration for mineral deposits and their sustainable development by the minerals industry.

Geological Structure and History of Exploration of the Anikhov Graben (Southern Urals, Russia) 

Alexandra V. Panteleeva, Aleksandr V. Snachev, P. V. Pankratev,
R. S. Kisil, and V. P. Petrishchev
Geological Structure of the Kumak Ore Field (Southern Urals, Russia)     
Alexandra V. Panteleeva, Aleksandr V. Snachev, P. V. Pankratev,
V. S. Panteleev, and R. S. Kisil
Petrographic Features and Carbonaceous Matter of the Black Shales of the Kumak Deposit (Southern Urals, Russia)  
Alexandra V. Panteleeva, Aleksandr V. Snachev, А. М. Tyurin,
Mikhail A. Rassomakhin, and Irina V. Smoleva

The discovery of uranium is attributed to Klaproth, a German chemist who, in 1789, precipitated a yellow compound by dissolving pitchblende in nitric acid, neutralizing it with sodium hydroxide, and heating it with charcoal to obtain a black powder that was uranium oxide. He named the newly discovered element after the planet Uranus. In 1841, Pe´ligot, a French chemist working at the Baccarat crystal factory in Lorraine, isolated the first sample of uranium metal by heating uranium tetrachloride with potassium. Uranium was used during the nineteenth century to color pottery and glass until the discovery of radioactivity by Becquerel in 1896 (Becquerel, 1896), when he accidentally exposed a photographic plate to uranium. A team led by Enrico Fermi in 1934 observed that bombarding uranium with neutrons produces the emission of beta rays, and this led to the discovery of fission of uranium by the Fermi group on 2 December 1942 – the era of the power of the atom began <...>

The results of mineralogical–technological studies of PGM mineralization in zonal mafic–ultra mafic complexes of the Ural–Alaskan type are given. All studied massifs in the Urals and Kamchatka are characterized by similar evolution of mineral assemblages. The chromite (platinum–chromitite–dunite) and dunite (platinum–pegmatoid dunite) geological–economic types of small platinum deposits and occur rences are separate enriched sites (ore shoots) of largevolume platinum ore deposits. These are rather thick and extended zones of recrystallized dunites with attributes of hightemperature structural deformations and intense fluid reworking.

This chapter contains abbreviated descriptions of selected major uranium deposits or districts including metallogenetic concepts proposed by geoscientists who have worked on these deposits. The given deposits and districts are considered representative examples for the types of uranium deposits of established or potential future economic value. To provide an idea of the magnitude of the deposit or district described in the respective section, some figures on the resources and grades have been included in the introduction to this section. Related details on dimensions are provided under section Mineralogy in the deposit descriptions. For additional comments see Paragraph Remarks, Definitions, Units.  <...>

The stratiform deposits make up a special group of lead-zinc deposits possessing many common features in which they differ from the similar deposits of other industrial-genetic types.
They are characterized by ores confined to strata of carbonate rocks, most frequently dolomites, by ore bodies of predominantly stratal form represented by impregnation ores of simple mineral composition, within which galena usually predominates over sphalerite (rarely the reverse), by the absence of magmatic rocks of similar age to the ore in the vicinity of the deposits,

The rare earth elements (REEs) are not as rare in nature as their name implies, but economic deposits with these elements are not common and few deposits have been large producers. In the past 25 years, demand for REEs has increased dramatically because of their wide and diverse use in hightechnology applications. Yet, presently the global production and supply of REEs come from only a few sources. China produces more than 95 percent of the world’s supply of REEs.

The Colorado Plateau is one of the prominent uranium (-vanadium) provinces of the world. It encompasses almost 350,000 km2 in western Colorado, southern Utah, northern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico. A great number of peneconcordant, tabular sandstone-type uranium deposits in Jurassic and Triassic formations have been discovered therein. Most deposits are clustered in districts of variable size.