Ore bodies, it has been discovered, are not randomly distributed

AS TREASURE MAPS go, it will be hard to beat. Geologists from Harvard University, Geoscience Australia and the Australian National University are drawing up a map to show where mining companies should focus their search for the ores of metals such as lead, nickel, copper and zinc. The billions of dollars they spend exploring for these minerals ($8.4bn in 2017) should, the researchers behind the project say, be aimed at the edges of old, thick portions of the continents called cratons. The map it...