Geology & Mineral Exploration learning path: everything to study, topic by topic

The three rock classes — igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic — and how the rock cycle transforms one into another through cooling, weathering, deposition, heat, and pressure

Minerals as the building blocks of rocks, the physical properties used to identify them such as hardness, cleavage, luster, and crystal form, and the difference between rock-forming and ore minerals

How rocks deform under stress to produce folds, faults, and fractures, the measurement of strike and dip, and why structure controls the location and shape of mineral deposits

The principles of stratigraphy used to order rock layers in time, including superposition, the geological time scale, and how relative and absolute dating establish a sequence of events

The major classes of mineral deposits such as porphyry, epithermal, orogenic, VMS, and sedimentary deposits, and the characteristic metals, settings, and signatures of each

The processes that concentrate metals into ore, including hydrothermal fluids, magmatic differentiation, and supergene enrichment, and how source, transport, and trap combine to form a deposit

The mineral systems approach that frames a deposit as the product of an energy source, fluid pathways, and depositional traps operating at regional scale, and how it guides exploration thinking

How exploration targets are generated and ranked by integrating geological, geochemical, and geophysical criteria into a targeting model, and how prospectivity is assessed and prioritized

The use of geochemical surveys to detect metal anomalies in soil, rock, and stream sediment, including sample media selection, pathfinder elements, and the interpretation of anomalies

Geophysical methods such as magnetics, gravity, electromagnetics, and induced polarization that image the subsurface, and how each responds to rock properties and mineralization

The practice of geological mapping in the field, including recording lithology, structure, and alteration, building a map and cross-section, and using observations to refine a deposit model

The use of satellite and airborne imagery together with GIS to map regional geology, detect alteration, and integrate exploration datasets into a single spatial framework

The design of a drilling program including drill method selection between RC and diamond core, hole spacing and orientation, and how the program is staged to test and define a target

The systematic logging of drill core and chips to record lithology, alteration, mineralization, and geotechnical features, and how consistent logging produces reliable geological data

The sampling of drill core and chips for assay, including sample interval selection, half-core splitting, sample preparation, and the assay methods used to measure metal grade

Quality assurance and quality control of assay data through certified reference materials, blanks, and duplicates, and how QAQC results are monitored to validate the assay database

The geostatistical foundations of resource estimation, including spatial continuity, the variogram, and how kriging weights samples to estimate grade between drill holes

The construction of a 3D block model from a wireframed geological domain and an estimated grade, including domaining, density assignment, and validation of the estimate against the data

The classification of a mineral resource into measured, indicated, and inferred categories based on geological confidence and data density, and the distinction between resources and reserves

The reporting of an estimate as grade-tonnage at a chosen cut-off, including the effect of cut-off grade on contained metal, and the sensitivity of the resource to estimation choices

The internationally recognized reporting codes such as JORC and NI 43-101 that govern public reporting of exploration results, resources, and reserves, and the principles of transparency, materiality, and competence

The role of the competent or qualified person who takes responsibility for a public report, the experience and independence requirements, and how sign-off and consent underpin investor confidence

The governance around public disclosure of exploration and resource information, including continuous disclosure obligations, avoiding misleading statements, and the consequences of non-compliance

The economic dimension of a deposit, including how grade, tonnage, metallurgy, and depth combine with metal price to determine whether mineralization is economic at a given cut-off

The staged study process from scoping through prefeasibility to feasibility, the increasing confidence and cost at each stage, and how technical and economic inputs build to an investment decision

The identification and management of geological and project risk, including grade and continuity uncertainty, sensitivity to assumptions, and how risk is communicated to inform decisions