Isotopic and trace element studies of the origin emplacement and deformation of Archaen mineral deposits in the granite-greenstone terrains of the Kaapvaal Craton

The granite-greenstone terrains of the Kaapvaal Craton contain among the oldest metamorphic rocks recognized on Earth and also contain a geographically disproportionately large abundance of mineral concentrations (in particular Au and Sb). However, very little is known about these occurrences a far as the source and age of the rocks in which they occur, the age of the mineralization, the nature and ages of the deformational events affecting the host rocks and the mineralization, the source of the mineralization (in particular Au, Sb and Cu), the mode of concentration of the mineralization, the behaviour of the occurrences in response to metamorphism, why some rocks are mineralized and other compositionally similar rocks are not, and whether or not the occurrences are temporally unique in terms of Earth history, i.e. are they only typical of the Archaean before 3500 Ma ago The objectives of this project were to study these eight aspects