A deformed and metamorphosed succession of sandstone, greywacke, siltstone and shale which accumulated in the Early Cambrian Kanmantoo Trough hosts a number of exhalative base and precious metal deposits. This sequence is apparently devoid of volcanics, although minor mafic tuffs occur just below the base of the Kanmantoo Group, a few thousand metres stratigraphically below the deposits. Copper mineralisation at the Kanmantoo Mine occurs as feeders to overlying exhalative Cu-Au mineralisation associated with banded iron formation (BIF) and garnet-quartz rock and relatively proximal Pb-Zn mineralisation with accompanying garnet, gahnite and local staurolite. Stratabound alteration zones, which have been metamorphosed to middle amphibolite facies and are typically garnet-rich, are identified in association with the copper and some Pb-Zn deposits in the district, including the Kanmantoo Mine area (where the alteration product is now dominated by very coarse andalusite), Breadalbane Mine (Cu), Wheal Ellen (Pb-Zn-Ag) and the recently discovered Angas prospect (Pb-Zn-Ag). Preliminary work suggests that the altered rocks display variable Fe, Mn and Mg enrichment and Na and Ca depletion, and that the Mn and Zn contents of garnet and staurolite, respectively, reflect their proximity to Pb-Zn ore. At the Scotts Creek and Aclare Pb-Zn-Ag deposits, interpreted as relatively distal, the alteration zones are much reduced or absent, but distinctive exhalites including coticule rocks are present and display compositional changes (e.g. in feldspar composition) towards the orebodies which they largely host. The latter deposits formed at the end of a major upward-fining sedimentary cycle in a sub-basin, at least 8 km wide, with some evidence of yet smaller-scale basin segmentation in the vicinity of the mineralisation. Normal greywacke-dominated sedimentation resumed soon after.