**Acknowledgements**

Much of this research would have been impossible without the generous financial support and intellectual stimulation provided by staff initially at StatOil and later at DetNorske (now Aker BP) companies in Norway. In particular, Hans Konrad Johnsen, Håkon Gunnar Rueslåtten, Martin Hovland, Jens Emil Vinstad, Jon Eric Skeie, and Christine Fichler in Norway and Monte Swan in Evergreen, Colorado, were very helpful. Prof. Massonne and Dr. Tillmann Viefhaus of the Mineralogical Institute at the University Stuttgart, Germany, for many years supported groundbreaking, detailed mineralogical, geochemical, isotopic, and geometallic basic research. Dr. Bernhardt and Dr. J.C. Kopp guided the geological-mineralogical understanding of the German Kupferschiefer occurrences. Recent conversations with Ziegbniew Sawlowicz have contributed to our knowledge of the Lubin district. An early review by Martin Hovland significantly improved the manuscript and special illustrations by Peg O'Malley greatly improved the manuscript.
