Figure 1 - From McCuaig, Guj, Hronsky, and Schodde (2009). Greenfields exploration was progressively abandoned beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s. By the first few years of the 2000s, brownfields exploration predominated.
Figure 2. Gold exploration became dominant over the same time period that greenfields exploration began to be neglected in favor of brownfields exploration.