This book describes the main industrial types of economic mineral deposits, the signs and indicators for recognizing them, and the criteria for evaluating them. The work of prospecting and the methods used in searching for deposits, and in exploring them, are treated at length. Full information is given on the techniques and systems of prospecting, on the sampling of mineral deposits, on the working down, testing, and controlling of samples. Methods of estimating and evaluating the ore reserves and economic value of deposits are discussed with practical advice and the geological service of operational mines is described. Professor Kreiter's work is a textbook for students of the geological faculties of universities and mining colleges, specializing in the geology and exploration of mineral deposits. The author of this textbook, the late Prof. Vladimir Kreiter, was a distinguished and honored scientist, who at the time of his death held the chair of mineral deposits and exploration at t