Organizer: John Ayer

Contact: jayer@laurentian.ca

Sponsor: MERC (sponsoring student fees)

Date: Sunday May 11, 2025

Cost: 250$ + taxes (professional in person), 100$ + taxes (professional online), 80$ + taxes (student in person), 50$ + taxes (student online)

The timing and distribution of mineralization in Archean terranes was influenced by a variety of differing geodynamic environments. Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS) deposits were syn-volcanic occurring in extensional oceanic settings associated with high crustal heat flow. Orogenic gold deposits were formed by later collisional tectonic processes associated with the development of folding, late crustal-scale faults and syn-orogenic sedimentary units. The faults provided critical pathways for hydrothermal mineralizing fluids during repeated reactivations.

Metal Earth’s program of reflection seismic, magnetotelluric and gravity surveys have provided crustal-scale imaging from areas with differing gold and base metal endowment across the Superior Craton including world class gold and VMS camps. Talks will highlight the crustal architecture of endowed and less endowed transects utilizing Metal Earth’s geophysical studies integrated with focused geological mapping programs, geochemical and geochronological data and also include a presentation on innovative geophysical solutions for smart targeting of mineral deposits. Orogenic gold presentations will cover the diversity of greenstone belt deposits and their exploration significance; a better understanding of their timing, fluid sources and mineralizing controls. They will also provide a better understanding of the regional scale faults system focussing mineralization and gold mineralization associated with metasedimentary terranes in the Superior Craton. Presentations will also include the key features of VMS deposits, their association with critical metals, and their stratigraphic and lithological controls in the highly endowed Abitibi Greenstone belt. The workshop will end with a final presentation highlighting crustal growth and mineral endowment in the modern Indo-Australian Arc-Back-Arc microplate environment, studied with the same geophysical, geochemical and geochronological tools used on Metal Earth’s transects in the Superior Craton. The focus will be on the crustal growth and Metal Endowment in modern back-arcs compared with ancient greenstone belts, an area with the fastest growing crust on earth hosting three of the top ten Cu-Au deposits in the world.

Morning

1. Ross Sherlock: Mapping fertile fault systems in the Superior Craton

2. John Ayer: Architecture and endowment of the Timmins - Matheson gold camp

3. Crystal LaFlamme: Towards linking the timing, fluid sources and mineralizing controls in orogenic gold systems of the southern Abitibi

4. Alireza Malehmir: Innovative geophysical solutions for smart targeting of mineral deposits from prototypes to deep-learning algorithms

Afternoon

5. Jack Simmons: Archean gold deposits associated with structurally-controlled metasedimentary belts of the Superior Craton

6. Taus Jorgensen: Assemblage and lithological compilations of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt and their use in assessing differential VMS endowment

7. Stefanie Bruckner: The many faces of VMS deposits: exploration, lithochemistry and critical metals

8. Mark Hannington: Microplate solutions to crustal growth and metal endowment in modern back-arc basins and ancient greenstone belts