Petrology provides the foundational context for understanding an ore system by revealing the mineral assemblages, textures, and alteration patterns that is recorded throughout its geological history. Through detailed thin-section analysis, petrology aims to identify key paragenetic relationships, distinguishes primary from secondary minerals, and can highlight subtle alteration associations.

Geochronology can distinguish the age of mineralising, identify multiple pulses of ore formation, and link deposits to regional tectonic events. Determining the age of mineralisation is critical to building an accurate metallogenic model and unravelling the history of any ore deposit. A range of geochronological techniques using the U-Pb, Lu-Hf and Rb-Sr decay schemes can be applied to a broad range of minerals including zircon, apatite, titanite, calcite, monazite, xenotime etc. 

Subtle chemical variations in various minerals can be used to vector toward mineralisation, distinguish fertile from barren systems, and fingerprint key ore-forming processes. The same mineral-scale data can also predict metallurgical behaviour, flotation performance, and determine the distribution of deleterious elements, helping to streamline processing and improve metal recoveries.  

Isotopic analyses offer a powerful way to unravel fluid sources, metal pathways, and the physicochemical processes that shape an ore system, which can be critical to determining an appropriate metallogenic model. Variations across multiple isotopic systems often show systematic changes with proximity to an ore body, offering valuable vectoring signals for exploration. 

SEM-MLA and XRD together provide a powerful, complementary mineralogical dataset that delivers both high-resolution, grain-scale insights and robust bulk mineral quantification. SEM-MLA maps mineral species, textures, and metal deportment at the micron scale capturing trace phases, liberation characteristics, and subtle alteration features, while XRD provides accurate whole-rock mineral abundances and identifies minerals that may be difficult to distinguish texturally