This talk has a closer look at iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) group of deposits, discussing the temporal distribution and tectonic environments of the various subtypes. The sub-classes include low-Ti iron oxide-associated deposits that include iron oxide (P), iron oxide (F, REE), skarn Fe or Cu-Au and high-grade Au ± Cu.

It appears most likely that formation and preservation of giant IOCG deposits was largely a Precambrian phenomenon related to heightened activity of mantle plumes that impacted on buoyant metasomatized SCLM at that stage in Earth history, with Phanerozoic IOCG deposits forming only rarely in tectonic settings where conditions similar to those in the Precambrian were replicated.