18 Junior researchers and 6 senior scientists spent a rewarding week in Canada, studying the Abitibi granite-greenstone belt and Kapuskasing structural zone. After the Barberton greenstone belt in South Africa and Pilbara in Australia, Abitibi is the third key area that the SPP visited during field workshops for early stage researchers.
This years field workshop started in Sudbury, Ontario, where the group was greeted by the excusion leader Prof. Nicholas Arndt, University of Grenoble. Together with Prof. Phil Thurston and Prof. Mike Lesher, he introduced into the geology of the Sudbury Igneous Complex. Different meteorite impact structures, shatter cones, melt sheets and breccias of this complex were inspected following talks at the university of Sudbury.
After a half-day visit to the Podolsky-Whistle outcrop, the group travelled to the Kapuskasing structural zone near Timmins. Here, Late Archean granulite- and amphibolite-grade rocks crop out within a NE-SW striking, elongate structural uplift.
Near the structural zone, mining of gold and other ores is widespread. The group was introduced into the mining history of the region at the “Timmins Museum National Exhibition Center”.  
At the next stop in Kirkland Lake, the SPP participants had the chance to visit komatiites and layered intrusions, guided by mining expert Dave Gamble.
The last leg of the trip led the group to Rouyn in the Quebec province, where Jean Goutier (Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune, Québec) took the lead of the group. Archean mafic-felsic volcanics, VMS and Au deposits could be inspected easily, as mining activities have left well accessible outcrops behind.  
During the workshop,  all researchers had the opportunity to sample in the field and from cores kindly provided by the several cooperation partners in Canada. Furthermore, all participants benefitted from the scientific exchange at all academic levels.