So far most deposits came from hot fluids. This family is different: the metal concentrates straight out of a cooling magma, before or instead of any watery stage. These are magmatic (or orthomagmatic) deposits.

• Nickel-copper-PGE sulfides — in certain magmas, droplets of dense metal sulfide separate out (like oil from water) and sink to the floor of the magma chamber, pooling into a rich layer of nickel, copper, and platinum-group elements.
• Chromite & PGE "reefs" — as a big magma body cools slowly, crystals settle in layers, sometimes forming sheets of chromite (chromium ore) or thin, fabulously rich platinum layers called reefs.
• Carbonatite REE — rare carbonate magmas host most of the world's rare earth elements (Unit 2).
• Pegmatites — the last, water-rich dregs of a granite magma crystallise into coarse pegmatite, which can concentrate lithium, beryllium, and tantalum.

Where: Sudbury (Canada, Ni-Cu from a meteorite-impact melt) and Norilsk (Russia, giant Ni-Cu-PGE); the Bushveld Complex (South Africa) holds most of the world's platinum and vast chromite; Bayan Obo (China) is the largest rare-earth deposit; Greenbushes (Australia) is a premier lithium pegmatite.