I will work on a better response, but you raise some valid points.

As someone who generates and prospects projects, I have to keep in consideration a lot of these factors.

Alot of properties I own have been in production, but wars/metal prices halted them at some point making them uneconomic to mine, but at todays prices, they could open up.

We also have to factor in additional costs like the fuel/labor prices as of todays standards.

Heck why don't I start off. I will be continually editing and adding to this as thoughts and ideas come to me.

A few initial thoughts to help folks out... "What is economic geology?" First lets focus specifically on the geology and none of the other factors which we will get into later (socioeconomics, politics, political unrest, market cycles, the environment, time-scale, "green energy transition", technology, geography). You get the idea.

"What is economic geology?" Well... it depends on who you ask.

Simply put economic geology is the ability to profit from the exploitation/extraction of minerals, metals and materials from the earth (base/precious metals, rock, aggregate, industrial minerals, clays, lime for concrete, oil, gas).

I will stick with the theme of "geology" here and only look at it from the perspectives of the following groups/people ie. people directly involved in the production and exploration of economic minerals/materials and even more specifically in regards to British Columbia, again focusing solely on geology.

-Prospectors

-Artisanal placer/mineral-hardrock miners (Mom and Pop-type, family ops, small scale, and "unregulated" operators)

-Geologists (GIT-geologist in training, Government Geo, P Geo) where did they go to school and when? Time in the industry, who have they worked for? etc...)

-Jr. Exploration companies

-Mid-Tier Exploration Companies

-The "big-boys"- ie. Majors.

-The Government

Before I go answering the question through the eyes of each group listed above, lets look a the current "widely accepted" model. As a generalization the current attitude towards what is considered economic geology in western world is the following... Big (>250Million -1 Billion tonnes) of "low" grade material that will take extensive amounts of energy, capital, time and human power to bring into production/extract. The idea here is to create a type of "trickle" down economics where the money is spread far and wide.

A theoretical story line here, following the "food chain".... A Prospector or maybe a small artisanal miner finds mineralization while chasing placer gold or high grade hard-rock material. A small start-up mining company, a geologist, or a Jr miner happens across a historic mention of this mineralization or it is brought to their attention by someone (the prospector approaches a Jr. or vise versa). This is followed up by a field visit, which is than followed up by an "option agreement" or a "deal". Then several more stages/years/seasons of exploration (geochem, prospecting, geophysics, exploratory drilling, geologic mapping etc). Eventually the project attracts the attention of a large-mid tier company who recognizes the potential significance of what is being uncovered. Exploration now shifts into drilling off a resource/defining the deposit. Once the deposit has been outlined the next step is to start checking the "boxes" ie. metallurgy, environmental assessment, feasibility etc... And then the stars, moon, and sun must align,!!!! Then and only then does the "Major" come along and brings the project through the next leg of the race, and hopefully to the finish line.

Lovely story.... But is this truly economic? The amount of time, energy, and capital expended for a MAYBE? Yet this is the model we currently live with.

Okay... That is enough! I will continue ranting another time.......

-Jared

When i think of Ore, I think of rocks or minerals that contain a certain amount of valuable elements or compounds, which can be then be extracted and processed to obtain the desired metal or mineral. Ores would have to be economically significant and an abundance of that resource as they serve as the primary source of metals like iron, copper, gold, and silver and more !!

Mineralization refers to the process by which minerals accumulate or form within a specific geological environment but are not necceraly of a grade high enough to be considered ore ...

Now as far as the grades neccesary it depends on the mineral in question..!!

Also I guess we have to consider gemstones as something that can be of economic value but insteed of grade would be the quality of the material, clearness, competence etc

Now, economic geology deals with the distribution of mineral deposits, economic considerations and the assessment of available reserves ( amount)

Depending also on the ease of accessing them .. if the grade is good but too deep that may never be mined unltil we find ways to do so ..Also the way they are mined depends on many factors as well.

In BC we have many different resources that have been mined in the past... Coal, copper, silver ,gold , iron and many more ... Now adays critical mineral and rare earth are also a huge consideration

Love the post Jared...definitely got me thinking :)

Thank You cuporphyrydaddy and Sebo. Thinking! That is one of the most important objectives here.

A few points of where this rant is headed.... I'd like to help foster a change in the perception of what is economic geology. Obviously there are limits to this (NO grade NO mine). I am taking into consideration the number of high grade, low to moderate tonnage showing, prospects, and historic mines that exist in BC -- many of which were at one point economic, many of these still have potential to be profitable.

Another reason for this is to continue to foster and encourage people to dream and to never give up. If we all quit every time someone doubted us where would we all be? A hunch, a theory, a dream? Whatever it maybe.....

Anther future addition to this on-going rant will be a list of deposit types and eventually a breakdown into sub-types. Idea here is to help individuals identify what they are potentially exploring for or may want to explore for. This will also help you identify who your target "audience" is when you go to sell, option, or mine yourself.

I am very far from someone that could speek from experience .. but to me the bare minimum to be an Economical mine is it would break even (including everyone making a resonable wage.. not meaning like $100k each but enough they can live on it at least during the time the mine is running) then would scale up from there

For a deposit to be 'economic' one needs high grade veins, disseminated mineralization in the country rock, or a combination of the two.

A huge problem in BC is that veins are discontinuous---meaning they pinch out due to faulting, or just disappear altogether along strike. This is one of the reasons there hasn't been a huge gold discovery in the Okanagan. And yes, I am aware of the Brett deposit on the west side of Okanagan Lake.

Teams get all excited when they happen to sample a high grade pocket in a vein over a short distance, and they then start wearing the geology equivalent of beer goggles--- nugget effect goggles.

If we're being candid, the chances of discovering a mine that will make a prospector financially independent in a reasonable time frame may well be 1:10,000.

Those aren't great odds. But it won't stop people from trying!

The thrill of the chase, the adventures, the stories and the discoveries are too alluring.

If we're talking a hard rock project that one can work solo on the weekends and make a bit of hobby money using hand methods then the odds go way up, and this model is quite attainable at current gold prices.

-Pickaxe

For me it's interesting how many mines failed due to major events that nowadays wouldn't be an issue