36 papers and 20 posters were presented at the plenary and thematic sessions by representatives of 29 organizations from Russia, CIS and other countries. To name a few of the conference participants, there were RAS Academician Felix Mitrofanov, RAS Academician Alexandr Hanchuk, Research Director at Geological Survey of Finland Pekka Nurmi, Leading Bedrock Geologist at Geological Survey of Sweden Anders Hallberg, Leading Geologist of the Geological Survey of Norway Jan Sverre Sandstad, and others. The meeting was opened by the Director of the Institute of Geology, KarRC RAS Dr. Vladimir Shchiptsov and the Head of the Subsurface Resource Use Department of the Northwestern Federal District Evgueni Malyutin.

Publication of the conference proceedings was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 13-05-06081-г).

The programme was structured into five scientific areas: ore formation types of gold deposits; mineral genesis in gold ore fields; gold prospecting indicators and criteria; technologies of searching for and estimating gold ore fields; geological economic assessment of gold deposits. The keynote lectures were devoted to the principal aspects of basic and applied research in noble metal ore formation. The thematic sessions dealt with problems of discovering, investigating and analyzing the gold capacity of the Fennoscandian shield at large and its Karelian part, as well as the technologies of searching for and estimating gold deposits.

The conference participants thanked the hosts for hospitality, and stressed the importance of networking with and among specialists in the geology of gold fields.