 The predominantly volcanic Archean and Proterozoic greenstone belts throughout Canada are important for estimating Canada's mineral potential.Consequently, geologists study greenstone belts to understand the volcanoes and the environment in which they erupted, and to provide a working model for mineral exploration.The 1,904‑ to 1,864‑million-year-old Flin Flon greenstone belt of central Manitoba and east-central Saskatchewan is one of the largest Paleoproterozoic age volcanogenic massive sulfide ore deposits in the world, containing 27 copper-zinc-(gold) deposits from which more than 183 million tonnes of sulfide ore have been mined.