December 1st to 3rd, 2014

Open House 2014

Abstract Volume

Saskatchewan Geological Survey December 1 to 3, 2014

Open House 2014

Abstract Volume

Saskatchewan Geological Survey

Printed under the authority of the Government of Saskatchewan

Although the Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy has exercised all reasonable care in the compilation, interpretation, and production of this report, it is not possible to ensure total accuracy, and all persons who rely on the information contained herein do so at their own risk. The Ministry of the Economy and the Government of Saskatchewan do not accept liability for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies that may be included in, or derived from, this report.

Cover: “Lying down on the job”. Saskatchewan Geological Survey junior geological assistant Levi Paradis, examining polygonal cracks of the Athabasca Group on the southwest shore of Johnson Island, Lake Athabasca. Cross-section of the cracks suggests an earlier desiccation event followed by a fluid escape event. Smaller desiccation cracks and sandstone ripples are present within the larger polygonal features. (UTM 613943 m E, 6577875 m N, NAD 83, Zone 12).

This volume may be downloaded from: www.economy.gov.sk.ca/previousoh

Saskatchewan Geological Survey ii Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Contents

page Technical Session 1: Uranium Geoscience

A Geophysical Expressions of Ore Systems, Not Deposits – Our Current Understanding ...... Ken Witherly 2

A Basin Development, Lithogeochemistry and Mineralization of the Athabasca Basin, Canada...... Paul Ramaekers 3

* Spectacular Conglomerates of the Northwest Athabasca Basin: An Overview ...... Sean A. Bosman 4

A Fault Architecture, Associated Structures and Uranium Mineralization, Eastern Athabasca Basin: A Provisional Empirical Classification ...... David Thomas, Alex Aubin, Dan Brisbin, Joshua Mukwakwami, Haiming Yang, and Gerard Zaluski 5

A Contemplations Regarding Basement Geology Compilation and Interpretation for the Southeast Athabasca Basin ...... Colin D. Card 6

A Why Think About Unique Uranium? Emphasizing Uranium Mineralization Patterns Using Geochemistry and Radiometrics, Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan ...... Donald M. Wright 7

A Characterization of Fluids Associated with Uranium Mineralization in the Beaverlodge Area, Northern Saskatchewan: Field, Petrographic, Fluid Inclusion and C-O Isotope Studies ...... Rong Liang, Guoxiang Chi, and Kenneth E. Ashton 8

A Geochronological Update on the Shea Creek Uranium Deposits ...... David Quirt 9

Technical Session 2: Overviews, Gold, and Rare Earth Elements

A Overview of Mineral Exploration and Development Activities in Saskatchewan for 2014 ...... Gary Delaney ...... and Staff of the Saskatchewan Geological Survey 12

A International Minerals Innovation Institute (IMII) Progress Report ...... Engin Özberk 13

A Unravelling Structural History Through Alteration Mapping ...... Anna Fonseca, Ivo Vos, Bert De Waele, and Mathieu Lacorde 14

A The MAW REE Zone Revisited: Field, Petrographic and Preliminary Fluid Inclusion Studies ...... Morteza Rabiei, Guoxiang Chi, and Charles Normand 15

A Black Gold in Saskatchewan – An Update on the Province’s Oil and Gas Industry ...... Melinda Yurkowski 16

* Tantato Domain Metallogenic Studies: Preliminary Data from Auriferous Brittle Structures in the Algold Bay–Pine Channel Area, Lake Athabasca ...... Charles Normand, Ryan Bachynski, and Rong Liang 17

A The Great Commodity Super-Cycle: Through the Eyes of a Saskatchewan-based Junior Gold Company ...... Brian Skanderbeg and Anders Carlson 18

Saskatchewan Geological Survey iii Open House 2014, Abstract Volume page Technical Session 3: Base Metals and Generative Mapping

A Comments on the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Models with the Iron Oxide Copper-Gold Model as an Example ...... Murray C. Rogers 20

* The Mullock Lake Assemblage: Remnants of an 1846 to 1837 Ma Forearc Basin? ...... Ralf O. Maxeiner and Ryan M. Morelli 21

A Context of VMS Mineralization and Other Mineral Potential in the Brabant Lake Area ...... Ryan M. Morelli 22

* A New Look at Nickel-Copper Mineralization in the Tantato Domain, Rae Province: Can Correlations be Made Along a 150 km Portion of the Snowbird Tectonic Zone? ...... Bernadette Knox and Jaida Lamming 23

* Quaternary Investigations in the South Tantato Domain and Adjacent Athabasca Basin ...... Michelle Hanson 24

A A Lithogeochemical Comparison of Rock Types, Stratigraphy, and Hydrothermal Alteration in Two Drill Cores Through the McIlvenna Bay Massive Sulphide Deposit and the Target A Prospect, Hanson Lake, Saskatchewan ...... Cliff Stanley, David Fleming, Roger March, and Ryan M. Morelli 25

* Lithogeochemistry of the Hanson Lake Assemblage, Flin Flon Domain, Saskatchewan ...... Steven Kramar, Cliff Stanley, and Ryan M. Morelli 26

A McIlvenna Bay: Setting a Course for Mine Development and VMS Discovery in the Western Flin Flon Domain ...... Roger March, David Fleming, and Fiona Childe 27

Technical Session 4: Emerging Projects, Exploration Techniques and Economics

A Key Results from NRCan’s Targeted Geoscience Initiative 4 that Supports Innovative Approaches to Mineral Exploration ...... Mike Villeneuve and Eric Potter 30

A Revisiting the Economics of Deep High-grade Uranium Unconformity Deposits of Non-Giant Size; Are They a Worthwhile Exploration Target? ...... William Kerr and Roger Wallis 31

A Chargeability from Airborne TDEM Data: Model Studies and Field Examples ...... Greg Hodges and Tianyou Chen 32

A Successful Experience of Ground Electroprospecting Application for Mining Exploration...... Igor Ingerov 33

A Arrow: A New High-grade Uranium Discovery in an Emerging District ...... James Sykes, Andrew Browne, Garrett Ainsworth, Jennifer Kocay, and Shayne Rozdilsky 34

A The Discovery of the Gryphon Zone, New High Grade Basement Hosted Uranium Mineralization: Evolving Exploration Models in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin ...... Chad Sorba, Clark Gamelin, Dale Verran, Larry Petrie, Lawson Forand, and Steve Blower 35

Abstracts for Other Saskatchewan Geological Survey Geoscience Investigations

* Highlights of a Brief Visit to the Beaverlodge Uranium District ...... Kenneth E. Ashton 38

Saskatchewan Geological Survey iv Open House 2014, Abstract Volume page * New Sm-Nd and U-Pb Ages from the Zemlak and South-central Beaverlodge Domains: A Case for Amalgamation of the Taltson Basement Complex and Proto-Rae Craton during the Arrowsmith Orogeny ...... Kenneth E. Ashton, Nicole M. Rayner, Larry M. Heaman, and Rob. A. Creaser 39

La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ Project: Geological Context of the Bassett Lake Gabbro and the Surrounding Volcanoplutonic Complex (Parts of NTS 73P/10, /11), La Ronge Domain ...... Ralf O. Maxeiner 40

La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ Project: Bedrock Geology of the Clam Lake Area, Southern Rottenstone Domain and Trout Lake Area, Western Glennie Domain (Parts of NTS 73P/10, /11) ...... Ralf O. Maxeiner 41

* U-Pb SHRIMP and Sm-Nd Isotopic Results from the La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ Project: Evidence for a New Archean Inlier and a 1.84 Ga Arc Complex Related to Subduction Under the Flin Flon–Glennie Complex ...... Ralf O. Maxeiner, Nicole M. Rayner, and Rob A. Creaser 42

* U-Pb Geochronology and Sm-Nd Isotopic Tracing Results from the Saskatchewan Sub-Phanerozoic Project ...... Ryan M. Morelli, Nicole M. Rayner, and Rob A. Creaser 43

** Rare Earths in Saskatchewan: Mineralization Types, Settings, and Distrubution ...... Charles Normand 44

A Indicates an Open House 2014 talk abstract only. * Indicates a paper found in the Summary of Investigations 2014, Volume 2. These papers are found at: www.economy.gov.sk.ca/soi. ** Indicates a report, which may be accompanied by a map or maps available separately for purchase. They are listed in full on the Ministry of the Economy’s website at: www.economy.gov.sk.ca/ReportsMaps. All other titles represent summaries of recent Saskatchewan Geological Survey geoscience research.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey v Open House 2014, Abstract Volume

Saskatchewan Geological Survey vi Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Technical Session 1: Uranium Geoscience

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 1 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Geophysical Expressions of Ore Systems, Not Deposits – Our Current Understanding

Ken Witherly 1

Abstract Mineral exploration is the primary means to define new mineral resources. Following the end of World War II, there was a global economic boom that required vast numbers of new deposits to be located and mined in order to provide the needed raw materials to sustain the demand. By and large, shallow, easy to define ore bodies were recognized first and developed. In the past 20 years, the discovery performance across virtually all mineral sectors has fallen, resulting in growing concern that if unchecked, there could be shortfalls in a number of commodities within the next 20 years. The collective sense is that the geological column hosts more deposits than have been found to date, but these are expected to be at greater depths than have typically been explored before. To be able to operate in this environment, new approaches to the identification of deposits is required and the concept of a mineral systems approach, first suggested 20 years ago, has emerged as a powerful means to build strategies and capabilities going forward. In terms of geophysical exploration, the major change that will be required is a shift from a focus almost entirely on direct targeting of deposits with geophysical surveys to a staged process where geophysical approaches are used initially to help define the pathways in the earth that carried the mineralizing solutions which formed the target deposit. These pathways would provide a much larger target to explore for and if detected and mapped, should allow explorers to follow the pathway to the location of potential deposits.

This task is different from most geophysical studies undertaken, where the focus has typically been on improving the direct targeting capabilities and not the larger scale mapping problem that a mineral systems approach will require. In the current assessment, a review is undertaken of what is seen as the current state-of-play for a number of major deposit styles and how geophysical data is being used at present to explore for these deposits. The assessment overall is encouraging but there remain major challenges outside of the technical issues of defining a mineral systems strategy that relates primarily to human resources and the commercial environment. With regards to the human resources issue, are there going to be enough of the right people to develop and implement the required programs? Universities play a critical role in producing new geoscientists but the industry then must take responsibility for training and mentoring these people into functioning professionals. In the commercial environment, at present there is little interest for long term, strategic programs either in terms of the needed financial support or commitment to undertake the implementation of outcomes. While governments likely have a greater sense of urgency regards this problem, it is difficult to see how they can successfully deal with as complex an issue unilaterally.

1 Condor Consulting, Inc., 2201 Kipling Street, Suite 150, Lakewood, Colorado, USA 80215.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 2 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Basin Development, Lithogeochemistry and Mineralization of the Athabasca Basin, Canada

Paul Ramaekers 1

Abstract Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to analyze multi-element Athabasca sandstone lithogeochemical data published by the Saskatchewan Geological Survey from diamond-drill holes in Saskatchewan, supplemented by Alberta data published in a University of Alberta thesis by Barbara Kupsch. Drill holes were unmineralized or weakly altered, except for some moderately mineralized Alberta core from the Maybelle zone. The PCA provided a number of factors, i.e., element associations found to various degrees in the samples that may be interpreted as lithofacies indicative of sedimentary and alteration events, as well as an estimate of the importance of each factor in every sample. These factors, interpreted with various degrees of confidence, include detrital lithologic facies, alteration clays (kandites, illites, chlorites), and phosphate, base metal, and REE alteration, often associated with uranium.

These results derive from stratigraphic packages that reflect different source areas, types of erosion, various and complex burial histories, thermal gradient discontinuities of at least four kinds, the introduction into the basin of brines derived from evaporitic units, deep burial with fault-generated and convective hydrothermal systems, and uplifts due to inversion tectonics and unroofing. These steps are cyclic; in the case of the Athabasca region 8 cycles with some to many of these stages are recognizable in the preserved sediments, and several more cycles are possible in the time during which 5 km of sediments was deposited and subsequently removed in the Athabasca region.

To help sort out these complexities PCA analysis of the data was also done on the data grouped by source area and structural zones and in view of this complexity it may not be realistic to expect a single ‘model’ to cover all Athabasca Basin uranium deposits. PCA for this dataset indicates that for the bulk of the sandstone (which is strongly leached by 500 Ma of hot brine circulation) most of the U is related to resistate heavy minerals, not hydrothermal U. This may have some implication for the interpretation of surface airborne spectrometry. The second most important U association is with V and Mo in Fe and Mn rich zones (limonitic zones) possibly representing U mobilized under oxidizing conditions during unroofing. Minor U is also associated with illites, chlorites and perhaps dravite with a weak association to LREE. A weak association of U with Pb, Ag, As and LREE and P suggests the much-discussed aluminophosphate alteration. A weak link between U and the prominent mid and heavy rare earth element suite found in ore zones may indicate that unconformity-type U was once more widely distributed in the sandstone than at present.

1 MF Resources Inc., 832 Parkwood Drive SE, Calgary, AB T2J 3W7.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 3 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Spectacular Conglomerates of the Northwest Athabasca Basin: An Overview

Sean A. Bosman 1

Abstract The Jackfish Basin, located on the west side of the larger Athabasca Basin, was the first depocentre to receive Athabasca Group detritus. This detritus, mainly transported from the east, formed the Fair Point Formation. Outcrops on the west side of Lake Athabasca and a few drill holes have loosely constrained the depositional extent of the Fair Point Formation; however, its east and northeast extents remain uncertain. The islands in the vicinity of the southern Crackingstone Peninsula on Lake Athabasca contain exposures of Athabasca Group conglomerate and sandstone, and the unconformity with underlying basement quartzites of the Murmac Bay Group. Similar to the Fair Point Formation conglomerate on the west side of the Jackfish Basin, the conglomerate in the study area is monomictic, poorly sorted, and mainly clast supported. Clasts are well rounded to very angular and up to 2.5 m in diameter. The morphology of the conglomerate is quite variable and includes channelized beds, centimetre- to metre-scale massive tabular beds, small fan-like features on the sides of quartzite basement highs, and some breccia. The conglomerate is interpreted as part of the Fair Point Formation rather than the Manitou Falls Formation, Warnes member (Warnes member includes the now obsolete Manitou Falls Formation, Raibl member) as published on recent compilation maps. Preliminary paleocurrent measurements indicate a south to southwest paleoflow, which would suggest that the Jackfish depocentre was towards the southwest and the source terrain to the northeast. Field observations indicate that much of the source material was derived from the Murmac Bay Group quartzite.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 4 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Fault Architecture, Associated Structures and Uranium Mineralization, Eastern Athabasca Basin: A Provisional Empirical Classification

David Thomas 1, Alex Aubin 1, Dan Brisbin 1, Joshua Mukwakwami 1, Haiming Yang 1, and Gerard Zaluski 1

Abstract One of the fundamental components in the empirical model for Athabasca unconformity uranium deposits is the presence of temporally-related post-Athabasca faults, which in many cases formed as a result of re-activation of older syn- to late-Hudsonian structures. In the absence of uranium mineralization or significant alteration the challenge is whether the fault rocks intersected in a drill hole should be ranked as prospective and if further drilling along strike is warranted. In the case of faults with associated alteration and uranium mineralization the issue is often how to target follow-up drilling in the most effective and successful manner. A general criterion often used by geologists working in the Athabasca Basin to determine whether a basement- hosted fault is pre- versus post-Athabasca is if the rock textures and fabrics reflect ductile deformation in the former or predominantly brittle deformation in the latter. This interpretative approach is only valid in the most general sense because fault zones are far more complex in detail, as they evolve in response to protracted seismic reactivations and changing stress fields over time. Fault zones typically transect different rock types with contrasting rheological behaviour while deformation styles will also reflect variations in strain rates, P, T and fluid conditions that can vary temporally and spatially along the structure. Thus, caution must be used in interpreting the deformational and temporal history of a fault structure solely based on the final product observed in a piece of drill core.

One of the primary roles of faults in ore deposit formation is that they provide the architectural framework for development of fluid flow pathways and fluid focusing. In order to develop robust predictive models to identify prospective faults or fault segments in the Athabasca Basin it is essential that the macroscopic and mesoscopic elements of faults be better characterized, correctly documented and ultimately synthesized from temporal and spatial contexts. In the Athabasca Basin, most company drill logs differentiate fault zones or fault rocks with a basic suite of qualitative descriptive terms such as fractures, fault, gouge, breccia, shear and mylonite as well as some quantitative attributes such as the interval width of the structure. Unfortunately, these terms are often used inconsistently amongst core loggers, even on the same drill program, and they seldom follow standard classification schemes for fault-related rocks. Rarely, the historic descriptive information used for faults in the Athabasca Basin allows for a clear understanding of the overall architecture or temporal and kinematic history of the fault zone which could significantly improve exploration targeting.

Presented here is a provisional empirical classification of fault-related features from the eastern Athabasca Basin and a review of the important descriptive elements of faults and their predictive importance with respect to targeting unconformity uranium mineralization.

1 Cameco Corporation, Corporate Office, 2121 11th Street West, Saskatoon, SK S7M 1J3.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 5 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Contemplations Regarding Basement Geology Compilation and Interpretation for the Southeast Athabasca Basin

Colin D. Card 1

Abstract Typical basement maps for the eastern Athabasca Basin are compiled based on the interpreted distribution of metamorphic rocks such as Archean orthogneisses and high-grade metasedimentary rocks of the Wollaston supergroup. The interpreted extent of the Wollaston supergroup, however, is directly related to the distribution of rock units such as quartzite and graphitic rock, which are now known to be largely metasomatic. This calls into question whether or not the distribution of Wollaston supergroup rocks has been accurately represented. A map product for NTS area 74H is being compiled using information obtained from primary drill core logging and the compilation and reinterpretation of geological logs derived from assessment material. Aeromagnetic data play an important role in determining the distribution and structural character of the region. Maps are compiled for both the distribution of metamorphic rocks according to protolith and metasomatic rocks. A combined version of these two products represents the near subcrop, bedrock geology for the map area. The maps will be released as traditional printable products and as a GIS package.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 6 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Why Think About Unique Uranium? Emphasizing Uranium Mineralization Patterns Using Geochemistry and Radiometrics, Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan

Donald M. Wright 1

Abstract All exploration models for unconformity-associated uranium recognize uranium enrichment and structure as primary components. Distinct inter-element behaviour of uranium, thorium, potassium, and yttrium can be shown to reflect mineralization, alteration, lithological, and structural features within public geochemical and radiometric datasets. The application of these element signatures, at or within range of the surface, is of significant relevance to exploration in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. Uranium-thorium relationships provide a method for identifying the potential type of uranium enrichment present. Known economic mineralization within the Athabasca Group display elevated thorium content; this signature is distinct from remobilized uranium enrichment that displays negligible thorium content. However, within the early members of Manitou Falls Formation, host to many economic uranium deposits, elevated background thorium requires the use of other element signatures to distinguish the types of uranium mineralization present.

Yttrium-thorium relationships are used to demonstrate important Athabasca Group chemostratigraphy and a potentially important hydrothermal signature. Yttrium-thorium ratios distinguish the Wolverine Point and Locker Lake formations from the Manitou Falls Formation. A positive yttrium-thorium signature present in the Wolverine Point and Locker Lake formations, interpreted to be associated with xenotime (YPO4), also displays a spatial association with known uranium mineralization, including that hosted within the Manitou Falls Formation. A temporal overlap between post-Athabasca basin pre-ore alteration around known deposits and the Wolverine Point Formation suggest a potential genetic relationship between yttrium and uranium enrichment. The observed yttrium- thorium relationship may also be used to further refine the type of uranium enrichment present in areas of elevated thorium content, such as in the lower members of the Manitou Falls Formation.

Potassium-thorium relationships within the regional radiometric dataset highlight lithological contrast and alteration. The distribution of anomalous potassium-thorium signatures appear to mimic known and inferred structural conduits and intersections, marked locally by uranium enrichment anomalies and known uranium deposits. Potassium-thorium signatures in Athabasca Group and basement materials may also assist in refining the alteration setting of observed uranium enrichment.

1 Peridot Geoscience Ltd., 19 Rein Terrace, Kanata, ON K2M 2A9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 7 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Characterization of Fluids Associated with Uranium Mineralization in the Beaverlodge Area, Northern Saskatchewan: Field, Petrographic, Fluid Inclusion and C-O Isotope Studies

Rong Liang 1, Guoxiang Chi 1, and Kenneth E. Ashton 2

Abstract The Beaverlodge area north of Lake Athabasca in northern Saskatchewan is known for vein-type uranium mineralization hosted in pre-Athabasca Basin metamorphic and granitoid rocks. It is generally agreed that a majority of the uranium deposits in the Beaverlodge area were formed before the Athabasca Basin and represent products of pre-Athabasca uranium mineralization events, but the actual mineralization ages remain uncertain. Most of the Beaverlodge deposits are hosted by leucogranite of inferred ca. 1.93 Ga age (and albitite derived from it by Na metasomatism) and by ca. 2.3 Ga Murmac Bay group amphibolite, both of which are unconformably overlain by ca. 1.8 Ga redbeds of the Martin group, and by ca. 1.75-1.5 Ga Athabasca group. The uranium mineralization in the Beaverlodge area is commonly developed in carbonate (with or without quartz) veins. The oxygen and carbon isotopes of carbonate minerals from various occurrences, including those hosted in leucogranite or albitite, amphibolite, and Martin group sedimentary rocks, do not show systematic differences, with δ18O ranging from -22.5 to -6.6‰ (VPDB) and δ13C values from -10.1 to +1.1‰ (VPDB). Two types of fluid inclusions, one with liquid and vapour at room temperatures and the other with only one phase (vapour) were recognized in most of the veins. Microthermometric measurements of bi-phase fluid inclusions show two types of fluids: one represented by fluid inclusions with homogenization temperatures ranging from 150 to 200°C and salinities from 0.4 to 5.3 weight % NaCl equivalent, and the other with homogenization temperatures ranging from 104 to 144°C and salinities from 18.7 to 31.4 weight % NaCl equivalent. Mass spectrometry study of bulk fluid inclusions show concentrations of H2O (dominant), CO2 (0.3887-2.3913 mol %), CH4 (0.0041-0.6969 mol %) and H2 (0.0001-2.9142 mol %). The co-existence of the bi-phase and mono-phase inclusions suggests phase separation during vein formation and mineralization. The δ18O values of parent fluids responsible for carbonate vein formation range from -11.8 to +17.0‰, with the majority ranging from 0 to +5.0‰ (VSMOW). These fluid inclusion and isotope data suggest that mixing of fluids from Martin Lake basin and other contributions (e.g., recharged meteoric water, metamorphic water) are involved in mineralization. The development of Fe-rich calcite and Fe-rich dolomite suggests that Fe2+ may have been an important reducing agent for uranium mineralization. Depleted δ13C values (-10.1 to -8.1‰ VPDB) and mass spectrometry results may also suggest that organic carbon (e.g., CH4) locally acted as a reducing agent in mineralization. Based on our study, we propose that vein-type uranium mineralization in the Beaverlodge area is syn- to post-Martin group, resulting from the circulation of oxidizing basinal fluids from the Martin Lake basin into the basement within shallow depth (1-2 km). Such fluids were likely channelled along high permeability zones produced by structural deformation and albitization, where mixing with fluids from the basement containing Fe2+, methane and hydrogen, together with phase separation, caused precipitation of uraninite.

1 University of Regina, Department of Geology, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2. 2 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 8 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Geochronological Update on the Shea Creek Uranium Deposits

David Quirt 1

The unconformity-type Shea Creek uranium deposits are located in the western part of the Athabasca Basin, south of the former Cluff Lake mine. Faults controlling the mineralization are associated with breccia bodies and alteration haloes (clay alteration, tourmalinization, and local silicification) in the sandstone. The uranium mineralization consists of uraninite/pitchblende with minimal arsenides and sulphides. High-grade mineralization consists of massive uraninite/pitchblende veins and impregnations located in several locations down to 200 metres in the basement and up to 40 metres above the unconformity. Several geochronological studies have been done at Shea Creek over the past 15 years. Samples from basement- and sandstone-hosted mineralization have been analyzed with electron microprobe for chemical U-Pb-Th age dating and by ion microprobe and TIMS for U-Pb isotopic geochronology (U-Pb isochrons; Pb-Pb). Other geochronological work performed includes Rb-Sr and U- Pb isotopic analyses on the Douglas River diabase dike, in the northernmost part of the Shea Creek property, and K-Ar age determinations on sandstone diagenetic/alteration clay minerals. The chemical ages are nearly always younger than isotopic ages, suggesting that radiogenic Pb loss from the uranium minerals has been significant. Alteration of the uranium minerals, reflected by increased Si + Ca contents, is associated with Pb loss. The generally large uncertainties seen on U-Pb isotopic age determinations result from disturbances of the U-Pb isotopic system by multiple remobilization episodes that are illustrated by a variety of generations and textures presented by the uranium minerals.

From the U-Pb isotopic results, primary Kianna basement-hosted ingress-style uraninite, associated with hematite, formed at ~1500 Ma, while Anne basement mineralization dates to ~1350-1300 Ma. A separate, deeper basement pod formed at Kianna East at ~1280 Ma, coincident with some Anne unconformity mineralization. Recrystallization of basement uraninite occurred at ~1100 Ma with the precipitation of coarse-grained illite. Younger basement uraninite precipitated with fine-grained illite at ~850-780 Ma. Egress-style uraninite at the unconformity and perched in the sandstone, inter-grown with APS minerals and chalcopyrite, formed at ~750 Ma. Later unconformity and perched uraninite precipitated with hematite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite at 500-400 Ma and perhaps ~150 Ma.

The Douglas River dike returned a Rb-Sr mineral isochron age of 1236 Ma, however, new GSC baddeleyite U-Pb isotopic work has returned a preliminary age that is <1200 Ma. K-Ar dating of Shea Creek illite indicates that illite formation was multi-episodic around 1450, 1330, and ~1235 Ma, contemporaneous with some episodes of uranium mineralization.

The oldest (primary) ages obtained are comparable to the most common ages determined on the Eastern Athabasca uranium deposits (1550 to 1380 Ma). The other ages obtained appear to correspond to remobilization ages, correlated to various magmatic and tectonic events, already identified both in the Eastern and Western Athabasca regions: Kuungmi basalt in Thelon region (1540 Ma), Mackenzie dike swarm (1267 Ma), Douglas River dike, Moore Lakes diabase/gabbro (1107 Ma), rifting of Rodinia (850-600 Ma), and the Carswell meteor impact (~515- 365 Ma).

1 AREVA Resources Canada Inc., P.O. Box 9204, Saskatoon, SK S7K 3X5.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 9 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 10 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Technical Session 2: Overviews, Gold, and Rare Earth Elements

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 11 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Overview of Mineral Exploration and Development Activity in Saskatchewan for 2014 Gary Delaney 1 and the Staff of the Saskatchewan Geological Survey

Abstract In 2013, Saskatchewan remained the world’s leading potash producer and the second-largest producer of uranium. Gold, coal, salt, sodium sulphate, silica sand, copper, zinc, silver, and bentonite were also mined and there is good potential for production of a variety of other commodities including diamonds and rare earth elements. Provincial mineral sales in 2013 were $7.14 billion (B), down marginally from $7.4 B in 2012, and $8.1 B in 2011, but up from $6.86 B in 2010 and $4.6 B in 2009. In 2013, $236 million (M) was spent on mineral exploration and evaluation projects. The bulk of the expenditures were focussed on potash and uranium projects, but there was also spending on gold, base metal, and diamond projects. Exploration spending in 2014 is forecast to be $235.3 M and will again be focussed primarily on uranium and potash.

Saskatchewan remained the world’s second largest producer of uranium in 2013, yielding 24.2 M lb U3O8, of which 20.1 M lb U3O8 came from the McArthur River–Key Lake operation, and the remainder from Rabbit Lake. The Cigar Lake mine and the McClean Lake mill commenced production in 2014, during which a cumulative 22.6 to 23.0 M lb U3O8 is forecast to be produced. About $132 M was expected to be spent on uranium exploration in 2014. Activity has been bolstered over the last two years by ongoing exploration successes near known deposits in the eastern part of the Athabasca Basin, and in the Patterson Lake South area flanking the southwest margin of the basin.

The bulk of Saskatchewan gold production in 2013 was from the Claude Resources Inc. (Claude) Seabee mining operation, which yielded 43,850 troy ounces (oz) of gold (Au). In the first three quarters of 2014, production had already exceeded that of 2013, totalling 50,700 oz Au. In the latter part of 2013, 11,725 oz Au was produced from the Golden Band Resources Inc. (Golden Band) La Ronge gold project. Subsequently, mining and milling were indefinitely suspended due to decreasing gold prices and lower than anticipated ore grades. In 2014, both Claude and Golden Band pursued gold exploration programs primarily at and around existing or historic deposits.

Base metals production in Saskatchewan in 2013 was restricted to a small amount of copper and zinc extracted from Hudbay Minerals Inc.’s Callinan deposit, which straddles the Saskatchewan – Manitoba border beneath Flin Flon – Creighton. Exploration expenditures for base metals are expected to be about $3.6 M in 2014.

The Star–Orion South Kimberlite project remains the most advanced diamond play in Saskatchewan. Following the discovery of kimberlite in 2013, North Arrow Minerals Inc. has continued to explore its property with till-sampling programs that have identified new target areas. A number of other juniors have started grass-roots exploration programs in the area.

In 2013, Saskatchewan potash miners produced about 16 M t of KCl and had cumulative sales values totalling $5.6 B. Although Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, The Mosaic Company, and Agrium Inc. all reported increasing sales volumes throughout the latter half of 2013 and into 2014, a decrease in the average price per tonne of potash sold impacted total mineral sales values. In addition to upgrades and expansion of production capacities at Saskatchewan’s ten current producing mines, K+S Potash Canada GP is continuing to progress construction of the province’s first new potash mine in over 40 years at the Legacy solution mine site. Potash exploration and development continued at a strong pace in 2014, with a number of projects that ranged from greenfields to advanced stage exploration. As of October 1st 2014, the amount of land under disposition for mineral exploration, pursuant to The Saskatchewan Mineral Tenure Registry Regulations, totalled 9.0 M hectares (ha), a 16% increase over the same period last year and about 40% higher than October 1st, 2012. The majority of this growth can be attributed to continued uranium exploration successes in the Patterson Lake South area and a new diamond discovery in the area north of Deschambault Lake. There were also 4.4 M ha of land under disposition for potash exploration and development, pursuant to The Subsurface Mineral Regulations, 1960. The total amount of land under disposition in Saskatchewan, including mineral, potash, coal, alkali, and quarry dispositions was 13.59 M ha, or about 21% of the province by area.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 12 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume International Minerals Innovation Institute (IMII) Progress Report

Engin Özberk 1

Abstract A “dream” started in 2007, became a reality in 2012, and is now moving forward as a non-profit organization that is a catalyst for innovative thinking for building a world-class minerals industry. The International Minerals Innovation Institute (IMII) is an industry – government – post-secondary education and research institutions partnership and leader to inform, facilitate, coordinate, and financially support industry-driven research and skill development that will enable the growth and global competitiveness of Saskatchewan’s and Canada’s minerals industry. We have approved 9 projects, 2 on Research and Development, and 7 on Education and Training. We have committed $6.6 million for these projects over the next 4 years. We are developing at least that many more new projects. IMII efforts were further enhanced by teaming up with Mitacs and the University of Saskatchewan through the formation of the first of its kind Mitacs Industry Executive in Residence – Minerals, MIER-Minerals. The goal is to support innovation, research and training to enhance the global competitiveness of the minerals industry and encourage collaboration between companies and universities in Saskatchewan and across Canada.

1 Executive Director and Senior Technical Advisor, International Minerals Innovation Institute, and Mitacs Industry Executive in Residence– Minerals, #201 - 112 Research Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 3R3.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 13 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Unravelling Structural History Through Alteration Mapping Anna Fonseca 1, Ivo Vos 1, Bert De Waele 2, and Mathieu Lacorde 3

Abstract Small hand specimens from outcrop analyzed with an infrared spectrometer yield detailed mineral information that can help define the location of faults and structures that may have controlled mineralization. Infrared spectroscopic analyses of altered rocks provide three main types of information: 1) presence or absence of certain hydrothermal mineral species; 2) semi-quantitative information on the chemical composition of the hydrothermal minerals; and 3) crystallinity indices. Whereas the presence or absence of alteration minerals yields large halos that are seldom effective for exploration targeting, specific mineral compositions and high crystallinity zones tend to be structurally controlled and can serve as powerful vectors towards syn-mineralization structures. In porphyry and high sulphidation epithermal environments, where the vertical zonation of alteration minerals is well defined, asymmetries in alteration minerals identified through infrared spectroscopic analyses can help interpret the sense of motion of fault blocks. Interpretations of sense of motion of syn-mineral faults based on infrared spectroscopy are particularly important in seismically active areas, where kinematic indicators on fault surfaces can be affected by minor post-mineral fault displacements.

1 Principal Consultant, Geology, SRK Consulting (North America) Limited, 151 Yonge Street, Suite 1300, Toronto, ON M5C 2W7. 2 Principal Consultant, Geology, SRK Consulting (Australasia) Limited, Level 1, 10 Richardson Street, West Perth WA 6005, Australia. 3 Consultant, Geology, SRK Consulting (Australasia) Limited, Level 1, 10 Richardson Street, West Perth WA 6005, Australia.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 14 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume The MAW REE Zone Revisited: Field, Petrographic and Preliminary Fluid Inclusion Studies

Morteza Rabiei 1, Guoxiang Chi 1, and Charles Normand 2

Abstract The MAW REE zone, which contains a pre-NI 43-101–compliant resource estimated at 462 664 t averaging 0.21% Y2O3, mainly occurring as xenotime, represents one of the largest heavy REE and Y concentrations inside the Athabasca Basin. The deposit is located in the southern part of the basin between the Key Lake and McArthur River unconformity-related uranium deposits, stratigraphically about 130 m above the basal unconformity and confined to the MFd member of the Manitou Falls Formation. The spatial association of this deposit with unconformity- related uranium deposits and faults that parallel a basement high (‘quartzite ridge’) led geologists to consider a genetic relationship between each. Similarities between the petrography and geochemistry of the alteration zone and ore minerals in the MAW zone and those at the McArthur River uranium deposit were used to suggest that fluids responsible for mineralization in both areas shared a similar history. Alternatively, it was proposed that oxidizing fluids remobilized both HREE and U from previously mineralized areas and that the physicochemical conditions encountered in the MAW zone favored only HREE deposition. Our ongoing studies aim to further understand the genesis of the MAW zone and its relationship with unconformity-type uranium deposits through U- Pb isotopic dating of xenotime, O isotopic analyses of dravite and coexisting quartz, and microthermometric, Raman spectroscopic and SEM-EDS analyses of fluid inclusions.

In addition to silicification, the pinkish sandstone outcrops in the area show dravitization, argillization and hematization, especially in brecciated zones. Field spectrometric data indicate equivalent uranium and equivalent thorium concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 7.2 ppm and 1.9 to 6.0 ppm, respectively, and a gentle increase in equivalent uranium and thorium concentrations and in total counts towards the northern extremity of the outcrop area, where rocks are more brecciated and altered. Petrographic examination of 86 samples collected from outcrops and drill cores shows that the sandstones that host mineralization were subjected to silicic, argillic, and dravitic alteration, and contain abundant fractures filled with dravite and drusy quartz. Also present in the altered sandstones are minor amounts of zircon, clays, iron oxides, and galena. Xenotime is generally scarce in the samples examined, but is locally abundant. In an interval of 20 cm from drill hole ZQ-8-83, at a depth of 75 m, xenotime is concentrated in a few large (several centimetres in diameter), brown patches in the sandstones. Dravite is rare in the central part of the mineralized patches, but common near the margin, where it appears to be contemporaneous with xenotime. A comparison of the sandstone textures within and outside the mineralized patches suggests that mineralization took place after significant compaction of the sandstones rather than during early diagenesis. A preliminary investigation of 39 samples containing drusy quartz, which is associated with dravite, indicates the presence of liquid-rich biphase inclusions, vapour-dominated inclusions, and daughter-mineral–bearing inclusions. The co-existence of these inclusions with variable vapour/liquid ratios may suggest a boiling hydrothermal fluid system and heterogeneous trapping of fluid inclusions. Homogenization temperatures of the liquid-dominated biphase inclusions measured so far range from 71° to 138°C, and the ice-melting temperatures range from -10.4° to -27.1°C, corresponding to salinities from 14.4 to 24.9 wt.% NaCl equivalent. The ice-melting temperature and salinity data are comparable to those reported for the unconformity-type uranium deposits, but the homogenization temperatures are relatively low. More detailed petrographic and microthermometric studies of fluid inclusions, together with geochronological and stable isotopic data, are required to constrain the pressure-temperature and geologic conditions of the mineralization.

1 University of Regina, Department of Geology, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2. 2 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 15 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Black Gold in Saskatchewan – An Update on the Province’s Oil and Gas Industry

Melinda Yurkowski 1

Abstract Saskatchewan, rich in petroleum resources, is the second largest oil producing and the third largest gas producing jurisdiction in Canada. In 2013, 3371 wells were drilled which targeted oil and gas prospects along the western half and in the southeast corner of the province. As of August 31, 2014, over 2200 wells have been drilled, up 5% compared to the same period last year. Sustained oil prices, improved technologies such as hydraulic fracturing techniques for horizontal wells, and a fiscal regime that includes drilling incentives for horizontal oil wells continue to attract industry to Saskatchewan’s oil patch. While the Viking light oil play of west central Saskatchewan and the Bakken light oil play of southeast Saskatchewan continue to play a dominant role in Saskatchewan’s oil patch, the more traditional plays such as the Mississippian of southeast Saskatchewan and Mannville of west central Saskatchewan are also seeing strong growth.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 201 Dewdney Avenue East, Regina, SK S4N 4G3.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 16 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Tantato Domain Metallogenic Studies: Preliminary Data from Auriferous Brittle Structures in the Algold Bay–Pine Channel Area, Lake Athabasca

Charles Normand 1, Ryan Bachynski 2, and Rong Liang 2

Abstract A fault kinematic analysis combined with a study of the orientation, nature, and mineralogy of sulphide(±gold)- mineralized and sulphide-free, apparently barren, hydrothermal quartz veins was conducted in high-grade gneisses of the Algold Bay–Pine Channel area, Tantato Domain, to help in understanding the development history of the mineralization. Strike-slip faulting took place during at least two separate events characterized by southeasterly to east-southeasterly and southerly compression. The chronological order of these two compressive events remains undetermined. The majority of the faults represent reactivated subvertical joints, predominantly oriented north- northwest and northwest. Northwesterly oriented joints were reactivated as sinistral faults principally during southeasterly to east-southeasterly compression, and as dextral faults during southerly compression. Development of three groups of gold-mineralized quartz veins is attributed to the southeast to east-southeast compressional event. A rough west to east zonation in ferromagnesian silicate mineral alteration and metal association was observed, with biotite-bearing assemblages restricted to locations west of the Old Cabin quartz vein occurrence, where galena and sphalerite are lacking. The tectonic setting and timing of gold emplacement is difficult to reconcile with a traditional model of ‘orogenic gold’ mineralization, where ore fluids originate from prograde metamorphic devolatilization processes in the crust. Mineralization is hosted by granulite-facies metamorphosed rocks and was emplaced following a 20 km uplift of these rocks estimated at occurring between 1.85 and 1.75 Ga, before the start of sedimentation in the Athabasca Basin. Other factors that may have contributed to the genesis of the gold mineralization, such as magmatic processes, for which some evidence exists, remain to be tested.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9. 2 University of Regina, Department of Geology, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 17 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume The Great Commodity Super-Cycle: Through the Eyes of a Saskatchewan-based Junior Gold Company

Brian Skanderbeg 1 and Anders Carlson 2

Abstract The first commodity super-cycle of the new millennium presented a grandiose opportunity for miners and explorers to develop assets and convert them into wealth-generating entities. For a Saskatchewan-based junior gold producer and explorer, this entailed aggressive drilling at its underexplored Seabee gold property through the completion of over 100,000 metres from surface between 2010 and 2013. The discoveries of the L62 and Santoy Gap deposits proximal to underground workings at the Seabee and Santoy mines, respectively, represent an increase in excess of 800,000 ounces in Seabee’s reserves and resources at significantly higher grade than the camp’s pre-discovery reserve grade. Leveraged by higher company valuations and gold prices near the peak of the cycle, Claude was able to fund exploration while supporting infrastructure upgrades, which included the completion of a shaft extension at Seabee, which has been successful in significantly reducing mining costs. Current costs of mining at Seabee are equivalent to those of 2008 when gold was priced significantly lower. This accomplishment of reducing costs while expanding production to record levels would not have been possible without Claude’s commitment to exploration and belief in the geological model during thriving times in the gold sector. The lessons learned through the peaks and troughs of the great commodity super-cycle, have and will continue to shape Claude’s exploration strategies in its quest to discover additional high-grade deposits within the Seabee gold camp.

1 Senior VP and COO, Claude Resources Inc., 200 - 219 Robin Crescent, Saskatoon, SK S7L 6M8. 2 Exploration Manager, Claude Resources Inc., 200 - 219 Robin Crescent, Saskatoon, SK S7L 6M8.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 18 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Technical Session 3: Base Metals and Generative Mapping

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 19 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Comments on the Saskatchewan Mineral Deposit Models with the Iron Oxide Copper-Gold Model as an Example

Murray C. Rogers 1

Abstract The Saskatchewan Geological Survey has produced synoptic descriptive mineral deposit models and posted them as PDF files on the Ministry of the Economy website at www.economy.gov.sk.ca/depositmodels. The PDF files can be opened, printed, or downloaded. The models are oriented towards Saskatchewan mineral deposits and geology, and many are specific to Saskatchewan. Most of the 42 models that were originally posted in 2011 have been updated and together with 11 new models were recently reposted on the website. These include 28 metallic, 22 industrial, one gem, and two petroleum deposit types. The models document the key characteristics of each deposit type from the literature. They range in length from one-and-a-half to four pages, averaging about two pages. Their purpose is as an initial reference source. The primary intended audience is geoscience professionals, particularly in the mineral exploration industry and government. Members of the general public may also find them useful. The intent is to continue updates to the models, and develop additional models, where warranted by significant new information. The original 42 models, together with four summary tables, and two reference figures were compiled into a single document and published in PDF format as Open File Report 2011-57 on the website at www.economy.gov.sk.ca/OF2011-57. The updates of these 42 models plus the 11 new ones and the updated four summary tables have been combined in a new document and will be published on the website in 2015. As an example, the characteristics of the new Iron Oxide Copper-Gold model will be sequentially reviewed to illustrate the format of the models. Certain characteristics will be emphasized, notably the host depositional environments, structural settings, styles of mineralization, alteration, and speculation on some prospective settings in the province.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 20 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume The Mullock Lake Assemblage: Remnants of an 1846 to 1837 Ma Forearc Basin?

Ralf O. Maxeiner 1 and Ryan M. Morelli 1

Abstract An 80 km2 area in the western Kisseynew Domain was mapped as part of the La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ project. The area is underlain by the newly defined Orosirian Mullock Lake assemblage (part of which is known historically as the McLennan group), consisting of metamorphosed fluvial-alluvial potassic psammite, psammite, polymictic conglomerate, calcic psammite, and paleosaprolite, as well as felsic to intermediate, volcanic to subvolcanic rocks and an assorted array of subordinate rock types. The Mullock Lake assemblage (temporally bracketed by previous work to about 1846 to 1838 Ma), is similar in many regards to a number of supracrustal successions throughout the Reindeer Zone, including the Ourom, Sickle, and Missi groups. In the study area, a unit historically mapped as ‘arkosic metasediments’ has been divided into a number of subunits, including quartz-phyric leucogranite, aplite, polymictic conglomerate, potassic psammite and interbedded conglomerate, trachytic-textured porphyritic diorite, and minor felsic to intermediate volcaniclastic rocks. A homogeneous pink quartzofeldspathic rock, with abundant aluminous alteration veins, was mapped as a paleosaprolite and interpreted to have been derived from weathering of the quartz-phyric leucogranite.

The Mullock Lake assemblage is a non-marine supracrustal succession that has a considerable volcanic to subvolcanic component of calc-alkaline arc derivation and is interpreted to have been deposited in a forearc setting. It partly rests on a succession of psammopelitic to pelitic sedimentary rocks of the partly marine, <1868 Ma Hebden Lake assemblage and older volcanoplutonic rocks of the La Ronge and Glennie domains. Given their location on the western periphery of the Flin Flon–Glennie complex, the Hebden and Mullock lakes assemblages developed above an eastward-dipping (present day) subduction zone that extended under the complex and accreted Sask craton.

From an economic perspective, rocks of the Mullock Lake assemblage host numerous orogenic gold deposits. The lithostructural assessment of the area suggests that rocks of the assemblage acted as fluid pathways for episodic and prolonged periods of time, and therefore must inherently have been suitable conduits for mineralizing fluids. Previous zones of weakness in the rock, such as syndepositional faults, could have been reactivated as small- and large-scale D2 and D3 shear zones, which could have focussed auriferous hydrothermal fluids, facilitating deposition of epigenetic gold mineralization. The inferred forearc tectonic environment might also have originally hosted epithermal- and/or porphyry-style economic mineralization. Although no mineralization of these styles has been identified, such deposits may have formed and been subsequently eroded, or still exist and have been misidentified. This interpretation nevertheless provides an intriguing exploration model for rocks of the Mullock Lake assemblage and warrants some follow-up consideration.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 21 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Context of VMS Mineralization and Other Mineral Potential in the Brabant Lake Area

Ryan M. Morelli 1

Abstract A new 1:20 000-scale geological mapping project commenced this year that will cover a geological transect between Brabant Lake and Royal Lake, in the central part of the Reindeer Zone of Saskatchewan. This area is underlain by upper amphibolite to lower granulite facies rocks at the boundary between the western Kisseynew Domain and northern Glennie Domain. The goal of this project is to assess the geological setting and mineral potential of the area, most of which has not been mapped since the 1980s or earlier, or at a scale more detailed than 1 inch to 1 mile. Work in 2014 focussed on the westernmost part of the project, between Highway 102 (west) and central Brabant Lake (east). This area is predominantly underlain by a northwest-dipping stack of psammopelitic to pelitic sedimentary rocks, with subordinate igneous rocks. Rocks at the western boundary of the study area comprise dominantly feldspathic psammite with subordinate intrusions of leucogranite, and likely correspond to rocks of the ca. 1846 to 1837 Ma Mullock Lake assemblage, recently defined in the Churchill River area ~80 km to the southwest. Rocks exposed to the east, on western Brabant Lake, typically consist of psammopelitic to pelitic gneisses with minor psammite and intercalated mafic igneous layers. It is currently unclear whether this sequence of rocks correlates with another known lithotectonic assemblage, though it is possible that the sequence is the extension of the Hebden Lake assemblage in the Churchill River area.

There is currently limited distribution of known economic mineral showings in the overall project area, with the exception of a cluster of Cu-Zn showings of VMS-style mineralization in the westernmost portion. Of these, the most significant mineralization identified to date is the Brabant Lake deposit, located ~1200 m northeast of Brabant Bay. Inspection of drill core from the deposit during fieldwork this year revealed a structural sequence dominated by (i) a lower psammitic sequence with <10% mafic minerals, (ii) an upper sequence of strongly garnetiferous, psammopelitic to pelitic migmatites, and (iii) a broadly intervening zone with Zn-Cu±Pb sulphide horizons that are spatially associated with thin, hydrothermally altered mafic igneous interlayers.

This presentation will provide an overview of this new project and findings to date, including geological character and implications for base metal mineralization. Consideration will also be given as to whether potential exists for other, as of yet unidentified, economic mineralization in this area.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 22 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume A New Look at Nickel-Copper Mineralization in the Tantato Domain, Rae Province: Can Correlations be Made Along a 150 km Portion of the Snowbird Tectonic Zone?

Bernadette Knox 1 and Jaida Lamming 2

Abstract The south Tantato Domain, Rae Province is dominated by mylonitized garnetiferous granitic orthogneiss, psammopelitic gneiss, garnet-bearing anatectic granite, and mafic granulite. The mafic granulite is intrusive into all of these other units and crosscuts the earliest structures (D1). All of the units are deformed by a D2 stretching and intersection lineation that plunges shallowly to moderately to the southwest or northeast. F3 folds are characterized by open to close interlimb angles and axial planes that dip moderately to steeply to the northeast or southwest. D4 deformation created F4 folds that are open to close with moderately to steeply dipping northeast- southwest–striking axial planes. Late leucogranite dykes may postdate F4 folding, but have been locally mylonitized. This project aims to test the potential correlation of magmatic nickel-copper mineralization in mafic and ultramafic dykes along an approximately 150 km long corridor on the west side of the Snowbird tectonic zone, stretching from the Nickel King deposit in the Northwest Territories, through the Dodge and Tantato domains to the northern margin of the Athabasca Basin. As at the Nickel King deposit and the Dodge Domain nickel-copper occurrences, the mafic granulites of the Tantato Domain were originally injected into metasedimentary units and contain significant nickel and copper mineralization.

Magmatic nickel and copper mineralization is known throughout the Tantato Domain. The Currie-Axis deposit constitutes the largest known concentration of nickel and copper with a historic (i.e., not NI-43-101–compliant) resource estimate of 3,400,000 tons grading 0.66% Ni and 0.6% Cu. A nearly 4 km discontinuous section along this mineralized body was mapped in detail in 2014. Variations in rock type from ultramafic to leuconorite and anorthosite were noted both in contact with and hosting mineralization. These original complexities are then subjected to multiple deformation events, including mylonitization. Detailed mapping and comparisons across the eastern margin of the Rae craton adjacent to the Snowbird tectonic zone are already underway.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9. 2 University of British Columbia, Okanagan, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 23 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Quaternary Investigations in the South Tantato Domain and Adjacent Athabasca Basin

Michelle Hanson 1

Abstract The South Tantato Quaternary Project is designed to provide surficial geology, ice-flow chronology, and till composition data to assist with assessment of the mineral potential and the application of drift prospecting in the southern Tantato Domain and adjacent Athabasca Basin. This multi-year project was initiated in 2014 and has four main components:

1) surficial geology studies and glacial sediment sampling in the vicinity of the Pine Channel–Algold Bay gold occurrences, south Tantato Domain; 2) surficial geology studies and glacial sediment sampling in the Axis Lake area, south Tantato Domain, which is prospective for nickel and copper; 3) ice-flow chronology studies in the south Tantato Domain and adjacent Athabasca Basin, and; 4) surficial geology studies and glacial sediment sampling in the area south of Pine Channel in the Athabasca Basin, which is prospective for uranium.

This talk will give an overview of the objectives of the project and then focus on the last two components.

Large-scale, remotely mapped landforms (e.g., drumlins) were combined with a detailed field record of meso- and small-scale landforms (e.g., roches moutonnées, striations) to reconstruct the general ice-flow sequence in the south Tantato Domain. Ice-flow directions encompass a wide range of azimuths (162° to 290°) and constitute a complex four-stage ice-flow sequence. From oldest to youngest, the ice-flow phases are 1) west, 2) south-southeast to south- southwest, 3) southwest to south-southwest, and 4) west.

Extensive surficial cover (>90%) south of Pine Channel, overlying the northern edge of the Athabasca Basin makes traditional prospecting methods difficult. Thus, knowledge of the surficial geology, ice-flow chronology, and application of drift prospecting in the area is fundamental to future exploration programs. The surficial geology is interpreted to be largely the product of erosion, deposition, and modification during the retreat of the last ice sheet. Late-deglacial sediments dominate the landscape. Deposition of stagnant-ice melt-out till and glaciofluvial outwash sediments was superseded by inundation of the area by glacial Lake Athabasca up to approximately 305 m above sea level. Wave action within the lake resulted in the winnowing, removal, and redeposition of till, notably leaving a cobble-boulder lag covering the majority of the terrain. Typical drift prospecting of surface till is complicated by the late-deglacial glaciolacustrine processes that variably eroded and/or covered the till, and by the pervasiveness of stagnant-ice melt-out till, which may not be suitable for geochemical analysis.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK, S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 24 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume A Lithogeochemical Comparison of Rock Types, Stratigraphy, and Hydrothermal Alteration in Two Drill Cores Through the McIlvenna Bay Massive Sulphide Deposit and the Target A Prospect, Hanson Lake, Saskatchewan

Cliff Stanley 1, David Fleming 2, Roger March 2, and Ryan M. Morelli 3

Abstract The McIlvenna Bay volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposit was discovered in 1988 and is the largest un- mined VHMS deposit in the Flin Flon mining camp. It occurs in Paleoproterozoic volcanic rocks, and is covered by a thin veneer of Ordovician carbonate rocks and underlying sandstone. Airborne magnetic survey results suggest that the productive host stratigraphy extends at least 7 km southeast of the deposit beneath cover to two other VHMS prospects, the Thunder Zone and Balsam Deposit. A time-domain electromagnetic (TDEM) survey was recently undertaken between the McIlvenna Bay (McBay) deposit and Thunder/Balsam zones, and produced an anomaly of similar magnitude to that created by the McBay deposit. This anomaly (Target A) is located approximately 2 km southeast from the deposit and was tested earlier this year with a 1683 m drill hole (DDH MR- 14-08). Unfortunately, the drill hole penetrated felsic dyke at the precise depth (1200 m) where geophysical modeling suggested that a conductive body occurred. Nevertheless, a down-hole electromagnetic survey in MR-14- 08 produced a long-duration, late time TDEM response at 1200 m depth that is easily discriminated from a low intensity, short-duration TDEM response related to graphite-pyrrhotite–bearing banded iron formation at 1580 m depth. As a result, this 1200 m deep TDEM anomaly suggests that the drill hole penetrated the conductive stratigraphy at a depth where it was cut by a dyke.

Because of the high cost of drilling, a down-hole lithogeochemical survey was undertaken on DDH MR-14-08 to further investigate prospectivity. After drill core logging, 171 half NQ drill core samples averaging 37 cm length were collected at an average spacing of 9 m. These were analyzed for major and trace elements by LiBO3 fusion/ICP-OES and ICP-MS, Leco correlation spectrometry, and aqua regia/ICP-MS methods. Results were evaluated using molar element ratio methods to classify and discriminate rock types, thereby validating drill core logging, and detecting and quantifying hydrothermal alteration. These results were compared with those of a historic lithogeochemical survey of 151 half NQ samples averaging 25 cm length at an average spacing of 4 m and analyzed by the same method undertaken on DDH MB-99-103, a representative drill core through the centre of the McBay deposit. These two surveys and their accompanying drill core logs allow comparison of both the enclosing volcanic stratigraphy, and the nature and extent of hydrothermal alteration in host rocks to the McBay deposit and Target A. Results indicate that although similar lithologies exist in both drill cores, the stratigraphic successions are somewhat different. This suggests that either volcanic facies changes and/or lateral discontinuity of volcanic units serve to complicate stratigraphic correlation of an identical horizon, or the McBay deposit and Target A occur at different levels of the volcanic stratigraphy. In either case, results suggest enhanced prospectivity in the camp, as either the Target A conductor occurs at the same horizon as the McBay deposit, indicating that the Target A conductor could be produced by a similar, large massive sulphide body, or the Target A conductor occurs at a different horizon as the McBay deposit, indicating that two prospective horizons in the McBay camp host VHMS mineralization.

1 Acadia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, 15 University Avenue, Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6. 2 Foran Mining Corporation, 904 - 409 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1T2. 3 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 25 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Lithogeochemistry of the Hanson Lake Assemblage, Flin Flon Domain, Saskatchewan

Steven Kramar 1, Cliff Stanley 1, and Ryan M. Morelli 2

Abstract The Paleoproterozoic Flin Flon Domain extends from north-central Manitoba into east-central Saskatchewan. It is an economically important succession as it hosts a number of volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposits, and has potential for new discoveries. The Hanson Lake assemblage (HLA) is part of the Flin Flon – Glennie complex in east-central Saskatchewan, and is exposed on the shores of Hanson Lake, but partially covered by unconformable Ordovician sedimentary rocks and Quaternary glacial deposits to the south. Two significant VHMS deposits occur in the HLA: (i) the Hanson Lake mine, north of the Paleozoic unconformity, and (ii) the McIlvenna Bay deposit, south of the Paleozoic unconformity. Host lithologies of both consist of volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks interbedded with subordinate facies of sedimentary and silica/Fe-oxide exhalative horizons that have been intruded by hypabyssal to plutonic rocks of a wide compositional range. Gaps in understanding the stratigraphy of the rocks hosting these deposits and exposed around Hanson Lake arise from facies changes in the volcanic stratigraphy, the effects of hydrothermal alteration, metamorphism and deformation. As a consequence, efforts to explore for base metal mineralization are hindered.

To address this problem, lithogeochemical samples were collected from all major rock types in the stratigraphic succession exposed in a 5 by 11 km area on the western side of Hanson Lake. The principle aim was to identify geochemical differences between rock types for the purposes of mapping, and to assess the compositional effects of hydrothermal alteration. Samples were analyzed for major and trace elements by LiBO3 fusion/ICP-OES and ICP- MS, Leco correlation spectrometry, and aqua regia/ICP-MS methods.

Rock types were classified using molar element ratio (MER) procedures and affirmed by petrographic observations. After assigning group membership, MER diagrams were used to understand the igneous and hydrothermal processes responsible for compositional variation, and to identify and quantify the effects of hydrothermal alteration in rocks that host prospective VHMS deposits.

Exposed rocks in the western portion of Hanson Lake are felsic dominated, and comprise the upper portion of the HLA stratigraphy. The lower portion of this stratigraphy consists of rhyodacite, which is overlain by at least two distinct felsic volcanic units. These are themselves overlain by clastic sedimentary units, and all are intruded by quartz-feldspar porphyritic sub-volcanic intrusions. Mafic dykes and at least one ultramafic dyke/sill cut the stratigraphy. Lastly, to the west, K-feldspar granite intrudes rhyodacite. Knowledge of this stratigraphic architecture will facilitate exploration under Paleozoic cover, as this information will provide clues as to where within the stratigraphy drill cores from mineral exploration have penetrated.

1 Acadia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, 15 University Avenue, Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6. 2 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 26 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume McIlvenna Bay: Setting a Course for Mine Development and VMS Discovery in the Western Flin Flon Domain

Roger March 1,2, David Fleming 2, and Fiona Childe 3

Abstract The McIlvenna Bay Cu-Zn-Au-Ag deposit, 100% owned by Foran Mining Corporation (FOM:TSX.V), is a large volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit located in the Paleoproterozoic Western Flin Flon Domain (WFFD) of eastern Saskatchewan. McIlvenna Bay is one of numerous VMS deposits and occurrences within the Hanson Lake Assemblage (HLA), a roughly eight to thirteen kilometre wide, northerly trending, steeply dipping collage of volcano-plutonic, sedimentary and iron formation-exhalative rocks. McIlvenna Bay is a blind deposit under shallow Paleozoic cover that blankets the entire southern half of the project area. An updated mineral resource estimate released in March 2013 consists of 13.9 million tonnes indicated grading 1.96% copper equivalent or 13.19% zinc equivalent (1.28% Cu, 2.67% Zn, 0.49 g/t Au, 17 g/t Ag) and 11.3 million tonnes inferred grading 2.01% copper equivalent or 13.52% zinc equivalent (1.32% Cu, 2.97% Zn, 0.43 g/t Au, 17 g/t Ag)*. For comparison, the deposit has roughly five times the tonnage of the average Canadian VMS deposit. Since corporate re-organization in 2010, Foran has advanced the McIlvenna Bay deposit through drilling, engineering, environmental and socioeconomic studies, the results of which will form the basis for a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) for the deposit**.

The PEA, being conducted by JDS Energy and Mining Inc., will determine the mining and processing parameters and establish, to a scoping level, the capital expenditures and operating costs associated with the potential development of the project. The PEA will incorporate the results of numerous engineering and environmental studies which have been completed on the deposit in recent years, including the most recent resource estimate, initial metallurgical studies, a traditional land use study, a completed environmental baseline study, geotechnical studies, initial hydrogeological studies, waste rock geochemical characterization studies and a preliminary mine waste management study. The PEA will be based on a 5,000 tonne per day underground mining operation utilizing longhole primary and secondary stoping mining methods with cemented paste back-fill.

The discovery and delineation of nearby satellite deposits in the Hanson Lake area which could be processed through a central milling complex at McIlvenna Bay have the potential to be accretive to overall project economics. Foran continues to employ systematic exploration methodology at Hanson Lake in the search for additional resources involving applied surface and borehole lithogeochemistry, large loop, deep penetrating time domain electromagnetic surveying (TDEM), borehole electromagnetic surveys (BHEM) and drilling which have successfully prioritized mineral target areas. There is a spatial association of the more significant VMS mineralization, including the McIlvenna Bay deposit, with evolved, alkaline rhyolite along the eastern limit of the HLA. Positive results to date include the identification of a deep conductor target adjacent to McIlvenna Bay (Target A) and a VMS discovery seven kilometres southeast of McIlvenna Bay at the Thunder Zone (Target B). Good potential for the discovery of satellite Cu-Zn resources proximal to McIlvenna Bay is recognized.

*For additional information see the Foran news release dated March 27, 2013 at www.foranmining.com **For additional information see the Foran news release dated November, 2014 at www.foranmining.com

1 Foran’s ‘Qualified Person’, as defined in NI 43-101, with respect to technical information contained in this abstract. 2 Foran Mining Corporation, 904 - 409 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1T2. 3 Foran Mining Corporation, 199 Bay Street, Suite 2000, P.O. Box 285 Commerce Court Postal Station, Toronto, ON M5L 1G9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 27 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 28 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Technical Session 4: Emerging Projects, Exploration Techniques and Economics

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 29 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Key Results from NRCan’s Targeted Geoscience Initiative 4 that Supports Innovative Approaches to Mineral Exploration

Mike Villeneuve 1 and Eric Potter 1

Abstract Between 1980 and 2008, Canada’s metal reserves experienced a continuous decline, resulting in levels that are less than half of those reported at the end of 1980. A key aspect contributing to this decline is the increasing rarity of surface discoveries in Canada, forcing the exploration industry to search deeper for new resources. As existing mining camps have already proven that their geology is favourable for deposition of metals at high enough concentrations to form ore bodies, there is a higher probability that other ore bodies exist in these camps. As such, these regions should be best situated to benefit from fundamental geoscience knowledge that expands the volume, and not just area, of exploration. In light of this, NRCan renewed the Targeted Geoscience Initiative (TGI-4) in 2010 for 5 years with a budget of $25 M. The program focuses on providing industry with the next generation of innovative geoscience knowledge and analytical techniques that will result in more effective targeting of buried mineral deposits, thereby increasing discovery rates. TGI-4 is a national program that carries out projects under seven ore systems (Lode Gold, Ni-Cu-PGE-Cr, VMS, Intrusion Related, SEDEX, Uranium and Specialty Metals) as well as methodology development projects.

In Saskatchewan, TGI-4 has focused its program on demarcating key markers of U enrichment related to the basement-sandstone unconformity in the Athabasca Basin and comparing them to similar U deposits across the country. Collaborative projects between government, academia and industry are examining unconformity-related U ore systems in the Proterozoic Athabasca (Phoenix, Millennium McArthur River and Dufferin Lake zone), Thelon (Bong) and Otish (Camie River) basins in order to refine genetic models and exploration tools for these U deposits. Studies on graphite depletion in the Dufferin Lake zone, numerical hydrodynamic modelling coupled with detailed 3D models of the basin and petrological, geochemical and isotopic studies of intense alteration associated with deposits and ore-hosting faults are all resulting in new knowledge leading to better geological-based exploration models. Complementary to enhanced geological models, TGI-4 is also developing new methods for vectoring to deposits. These include the use of Fe and Mg isotopes as markers of U mineralization and enhanced accuracy and sensitivity of airborne radiometric plus geochemical methods for deeply-buried (ca. 600–750 m) U deposits. The latter methods have shown that not only do anomalous element concentrations in the uppermost sandstone units delineate fertile structures on regional scales, but elevated metal contents in surficial media and radiogenic gases in groundwater coincide with projections of the reactivated shear zones and deeply-buried ore bodies.

TGI-4 results from across the country are also applicable to base metal and gold deposits in Saskatchewan. For example, a methodology development project based on seismic imaging of the Lalor deposit in Manitoba, has enhanced the ability, utility and cost-effectiveness of these geophysical surveys in delineating base metal ore deposits, as well as 3D models to visualize them.

1 Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E8.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 30 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Revisiting the Economics of Deep High-grade Uranium Unconformity Deposits of Non-Giant Size; Are They a Worthwhile Exploration Target? ǂ

William Kerr 1 and Roger Wallis 2

Abstract Since the discovery of the Rabbit Lake uranium deposit by Gulf Minerals in October, 1968, more than 80 uranium discoveries (defined as having at least one drill intersection equivalent to greater than 1% U3O8 over 1 metre) have been located in the Athabasca Basin, totaling 2.18 billion pounds U3O8 in all resource categories. Some have had extremely high grades (up to 24.6% U3O8 initial reserve grade at McArthur River), some have had huge size (at 650 million pounds U3O8), and many are located at relatively shallow depths (<250 m below surface). However, only four large mines (McArthur River, Cigar Lake, Key Lake and Eagle Point at 650, 350, 200 and 160 million pounds U3O8, respectively) and three mining camps (Cluff Lake, Rabbit Lake and McClean Lake at 78.3, 105, and 77.8 million pounds U3O8, respectively) have been developed. While 75% of the discovered pounds have been or are being developed or mined, this percentage is skewed by the giant deposits at Key Lake, McArthur River and Cigar Lake; to date, 65% of the actual discoveries have not been placed into production. Why is this?

High-grade unconformity-hosted deposits are the target of choice for almost every Athabasca-focussed exploration entity due to their spectacular grades. However, there are no current CNSC licensing applications to place any of the ~40 known undeveloped deposits (some with more than 100 million pounds U3O8 in resources and some with extremely high grades of up to 19% U3O8, and all of which are very high-profile) in production. This analysis, based on history of production and published costs, indicates that shaft-accessible deposits, unless approaching Cigar Lake size, are simply not economic. Counter-intuitively, this analysis also indicates that much smaller lower- grade basement-hosted deposits may be much more economically viable than the remaining un-mined higher-grade unconformity-hosted deposits. While these higher-grade deposits have been mined profitably if within range of open pit mining and proximal to a suitable mill (for example Cluff Lake D, Collins Bay A, B, and D at Rabbit, the JEB, Sue A, B, C and E at McClean Lake and the Deilmann and Gartner pits at Key), the same is not true for deposits accessible by shafts. If deeper than 200 metres and not of Cigar Lake size, these deposits are likely physically and economically stranded and will never be developed under any short- to medium-term uranium-pricing scenario. An admittedly contentious argument can be made to cease work on these types of deposits, if they lack any substantial geological “blue-sky” giant deposit possibility, until at least one of these is developed profitably. While the Athabasca Basin is accepted as the highest-profile uranium exploration “camp” in the world, a radical re-think of these preferred exploration targets, in the context of their “mineability”, is suggested.

ǂ This presentation is based on the lead article published in the quarterly Newsletter of the Society of Economic Geologists in October, 2014, Number 99, titled “Real-World” Economics of the Uranium Deposits of the Athabasca Basin, Northern Saskatchewan: Why Grade Is Not Always King!

1 Exploits Exploration Corporation, 22 Greenwin Village Road, North York, ON M2R 2S1. 2 Roger Wallis and Associates, 1 Greensboro Drive, Etobicoke, ON M9W 1C8.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 31 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Chargeability from Airborne TDEM Data: Model Studies and Field Examples

Greg Hodges 1 and Tianyou Chen 1

Abstract Electrical chargeability has been observed in time-domain EM data for many years, but mostly as a curiosity or considered to be interference, rather than a useful geophysical measurement. Previous work has shown that the chargeability distribution compares to ground induced polarization (IP) measurements, and that Cole-Cole decay parameters can be extracted from the data. In this paper we discuss the earth model that defines the physical response(s), and show some model studies using the HELITEM TDEM system to gain further insights into the IP phenomenon. We demonstrate that airborne TDEM measures the same chargeability as ground (electric field) IP, but in a very different way. Field examples illustrate various expressions of chargeability in the HELITEM data from sulphides and magnetite in the earth, as well as near surface clays and mine tailings.

1 CGG Canada Services Ltd., 2505 Meadowvale Boulevard, Mississauga, ON L5N 5S2.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 32 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Successful Experience of Ground Electroprospecting Application for Mining Exploration

Igor Ingerov 1

Abstract A clear trend in recent years for mining exploration is the predominant application of geophysical methods based on the measurement of the natural alternating EM field of the Earth, primarily Audiomagnetotellurics soundings (AMT) and Magnetovariational Profiling (MVP). This is due to the high sensitivity, portability, wide range of depths of investigation, and high productivity of these methods. Another clear trend is the integration of these two methods during field surveys. This is due to the fact that the AMT method is sensitive to the horizontal boundaries in a geological section, while the MVP method ignores the horizontal boundaries, but is highly sensitive to the presence of vertical and inclined boundaries. Joint data interpretation of these methods can accurately determine the parameters of the explored bodies. Another feature of these methods is the sensitivity to the anomalies located away from the profile of observations, and using the MVP data it is possible to accurately determine the direction to the anomaly. The source of the primary electromagnetic field is the variation of the Earth’s magnetic field, as well as the thunderstorm activity in the tropical belt of the Earth. Theoretical foundations of these methods were developed in the 1950s of the last century. However, rapid growth in use of the methods occurred only in the past 15 years, due to several factors:

• appearance at the turn of the century of small, portable, multifunction EM equipment of the fifth generation, which increased accuracy, productivity, reduced the cost of field surveys, and simplified logistics;

• introduction into field practice in the middle of the first decade of this century of precision field tripods for induction magnetic sensor installation, which dramatically increased field productivity, accuracy of measurements and made AMT and MVP all-season techniques, applicable to any terrain or soil conditions;

• the emergence of effective software for joint inversion of AMT and MVP, with the ability to solve complex geological sections; and

• development of methods for robust interpretation of the MVP data that allow for quick localization of drilling targets during field work.

1 Advanced Geophysical Operations and Services Inc. (AGCOS), 162 Oakdale Road, North York, ON M3N 2S5.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 33 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Arrow: A New High-grade Uranium Discovery in an Emerging District

James Sykes 1, Andrew Browne 2, Garrett Ainsworth 3, Jennifer Kocay 1, and Shayne Rozdilsky 1

Abstract The Arrow uranium zone (“Arrow”) was discovered in February 2014 by NexGen Energy Limited (“NexGen”) at its Rook I property in the southwest Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan. A total of 32 diamond drill holes for a total of 20,735.75 m have been drilled into Arrow to date, thirty of these having intersected uranium mineralization. The highest individual geochemical assay of 66.8% U3O8 over 0.5 m in drill hole AR-14-30 confirms the high-grade nature of uranium mineralization at Arrow. Arrow is a basement-hosted, structurally-controlled, and hydrothermally-altered system located within the Patterson Lake Conductive Corridor (“PLCC”). The PLCC constitutes a series of 4 to 5 “discrete” parallel northeast-trending electromagnetic (EM) conductors. Uranium mineralization at Arrow is associated with numerous sub-vertical graphitic mylonitic zones contained within 515 m strike length, 215 m width, and 630 m depth extent, and remains open in all directions.

There are four sedimentary cover sequences overlying crystalline basement rocks: i) Quaternary glacial tills, ii) Cretaceous sandstone, mudstone and siltstone beds, iii) Devonian sediments of the La Loche Formation, and iv) Helikian-aged Athabasca sandstone of the Manitou Falls “A” member.

The basement metamorphic assemblages are part of the Taltson Domain (e.g., East Lloyd Domain). The basement hosting Arrow mineralization is comprised of a major package of variable coarse-grained quartz-rich psammitic to garnetifierous (+/- graphite) semipelitic gneisses and granofels that are occasionally intercalated with relatively narrow graphitic mylonite zones. A complex group of interleaved massive-textured garnetite (>50% garnet), semipelitic gneiss, feldspathic granitic gneiss and massive gabbro is observed along the southeast margin of known mineralization. The entire basement package is vertically-oriented, dipping 75° to 90° to the southeast.

The main uranium-controlling structures at Arrow are a series of stacked, vertically-oriented shears (+/- graphite) with evidence of multiple episodes of reactivation. These units are quite commonly referred to as mylonites on the project because of the observed cohesiveness, high-degree of foliation, ribbony quartz, and rotated clasts (+/- shadow tails). Uranium has been concentrated locally within the graphitic shears and on either side of the structures in splay offsets.

Clay alteration is the most widespread alteration style observed at Arrow. Chlorite occurs as extensive retrograde replacement of garnets, biotite and feldspars, and hydrothermal chlorite forms locally along major structures. Hematite alteration is generally limited to a paleoweathering profile intersected immediately at the unconformity and down to approximately 50 m depth, or as local intimate association with uranium mineralization as a part of redox fronts. Late hydraulic structures provide space for dravite alteration, sometimes with remobilized uranium mineralization. A variety of mineralization styles occur at Arrow, which include disseminations and flecks, replacement of subhedral illite, fracture face linings, micro-stockworks, quartz-carbonate-uranium network vein complexes, “worm rock” or redox fronts, and massive to semi-massive veins and pods. The main uranium-bearing mineral present is uraninite, which is frequently partially altered to coffinite. A minor late stage of coffinite also exists. The Arrow discovery further enhances the potential for additional high-grade uranium discoveries to be made along the numerous EM conductive corridors within the southwest Athabasca Basin.

1 NexGen Energy Limited, Suite 205 - 220 3rd Avenue South, Saskatoon, SK S7K 1M1. 2 NexGen Energy Limited, P.O. Box 2192 (4/2 Benson St.), Toowong, Queensland 4066, Australia. 3 NexGen Energy Limited, Suite 2450 - 650 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 4N9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 34 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume The Discovery of the Gryphon Zone, New High Grade Basement Hosted Uranium Mineralization: Evolving Exploration Models in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin

Chad Sorba 1, Clark Gamelin 1, Dale Verran 1, Larry Petrie 1, Lawson Forand 1, and Steve Blower 2

Abstract The Wheeler River Property, host to the newly discovered Gryphon Zone, is located in the Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan, 35 kilometres southwest of the McArthur River uranium mine complex. The Gryphon Zone is situated approximately three kilometres northwest of the high-grade Phoenix Deposit, along the northern portion of the K-Zone trend; a highly prospective and underexplored metasedimentary corridor that strikes northeast along the western boundary of the property. The Gryphon Zone was discovered in March 2014 when drill hole WR-556 intersected uranium mineralization averaging 15.33% U3O8 over 4.0 metres in basement graphitic gneiss, 200 metres below the sub-Athabasca unconformity. Further drilling has outlined multiple stacked high grade lenses 100 to 250 metres below the sub-Athabasca unconformity that plunge toward the northeast. The majority of the drilling to date has been focused on only one of these lenses; the “Upper Lens” which currently measures 350 metres long along the plunge by 60 metres wide across the plunge. This lens remains open in the up plunge and down plunge directions to the southwest and northeast respectively.

Since the discovery of the unconformity-related Phoenix Deposit in 2008 exploration efforts at Wheeler River have concentrated on finding similar deposits using a combination of evolving exploration models. Recent exploration efforts have been focused on the K-Zone trend which exhibits numerous favorable exploration criteria including; basement quartzite and graphitic gneisses, basement structures, reverse offsets of the unconformity, weak basement hosted mineralization near the unconformity and anomalous sandstone geochemistry and alteration. Historical holes ZK-04 and ZK-06 drilled in the late 1980s, targeting unconformity-related mineralization, intersected favourable sandstone structure and alteration as well as alteration and weak mineralization in the basement approximately 35 metres below the unconformity. Follow up drilling campaigns attempted to locate unconformity mineralization up dip of the weak basement mineralization. Gryphon Zone discovery drill hole WR-556 was the first to evaluate the down dip projection of these intersections.

Ongoing exploration at the Gryphon Zone has focused on two objectives; 1) discovering extensions to mineralization and, 2) characterizing the setting of mineralization in terms of stratigraphy, structure, alteration and geochemistry. The latter objective is of primary importance in refining exploration models that can be applied to the K-Zone and target areas elsewhere on the property. Basement stratigraphy at the Gryphon Zone consists of four main lithological assemblages termed the Upper Graphite, Quartz-Pegmatite Assemblage, Lower Graphite and Basal Pegmatite from southeast (stratigraphically higher) to northwest (stratigraphically lower) respectively. The Upper Lens mineralization is foliation-parallel and occurs at the highly faulted and sheared contact between the Upper Graphite and Quartz-Pegmatite Assemblage. Mineralization typically occurs as semi-massive and fracture- fill uraninite commonly associated with hematite. Higher grade, thicker intersections generally occur where lower angle foliations are measured relative to other areas on section, marking a flexure in the stratigraphy and structure. Preliminary investigations of basement alteration indicate chlorite and sericite enrichment distal to the mineralization with strong dravite, secondary quartz and clay alteration occurring proximal to mineralization. Initial geochemical data indicates some trace element halos of limited extent in the overlying sandstone and basement with boron forming the most diagnostic pathfinder. Discovery of the Gryphon Zone demonstrates the importance of following up historical results in the context of evolving Athabasca Basin exploration models.

1 Denison Mines Corp., Suite 200 - 230 22nd Street East, Saskatoon, SK S7K 0E9 2 Denison Mines Corp., Suite 2000 - 885 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 3E8.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 35 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 36 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Abstracts for Other Saskatchewan Geological Survey Geoscience Investigations

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 37 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Highlights of a Brief Visit to the Beaverlodge Uranium District

Kenneth E. Ashton 1

Abstract A brief visit to the Beaverlodge uranium district was spent linking the geology of recently mapped uranium deposits and studying the past-producing Rix-Smitty mine. Previously described, variably strained quartzites, amphibolites, and argillites of the Murmac Bay group, and intrusive pink leucogranite were the main rock types encountered during the mapping, which was carried out north and southwest of the Eagle Lake area. These additions to the coverage have allowed for production of a more extensive compilation of the mapping completed since 2011 in the area bounded by the Ace-Fay-Verna-Dubyna and Eagle-Camdeck areas. The Rix-Smitty deposit is hosted by sheared orthogneiss, which has been extensively hematized and locally albitized. Subsequent brecciation of the orthogneiss is characterized by a matrix dominated by chlorite and minor calcite. As in numerous other deposits in the Beaverlodge district, this brecciation was accompanied by quartz and calcite veining, the latter of which hosts most of the mineralization left at the site after production.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 38 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume New Sm-Nd and U-Pb Ages from the Zemlak and South-central Beaverlodge Domains: A Case for Amalgamation of the Taltson Basement Complex and Proto-Rae Craton during the Arrowsmith Orogeny

Kenneth E. Ashton 1, Nicole M. Rayner 2, Larry M. Heaman 3, and Rob A. Creaser 3

Abstract Although the Nolan Domain of northwestern Saskatchewan is characterized by 2.61 to 2.58 Ga granitoids, as elsewhere in the Rae Province, rocks of this age are not known from the Taltson basement complex to the west in northeastern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Instead, rocks of the basement complex include ca. 3.0, 2.56, and 2.53 Ga granitoids, along with extensive 2.45 to 2.27 Ga granitoids thought to have been emplaced during the Arrowsmith orogeny. A similar delineation of ages is apparent in the southwestern Beaverlodge Domain where the Murmac Bay group rests unconformably on 3.0 Ga granitoids that are intruded by 2.33 to 2.29 Ga Arrowsmith granites, and the ca. 2.6 Ga granitoids are situated farther north and east. Three new Sm-Nd isotopic results from the intervening Zemlak Domain, which separates the Nolan Domain from the Taltson basement complex, help to further delineate these two potentially distinct cratonic blocks. A new TDM age of 2.84 Ga from gneissic granite of the northwestern Zemlak Domain is similar to previous TDM ages from the Nolan Domain, and consistent with field and geophysical evidence that the area represents a mylonitized southern extension of the Nolan Domain rocks. South of a strongly magnetic zone that contains 2.33 Ga Arrowsmith granitoids, orthogneisses yielding 3.13 and 2.98 Ga TDM ages in the southwestern Zemlak Domain suggest that they are older and potentially correlative with the ca. 3.0 Ga rocks of the Taltson basement complex. A new 2.52 Ga U-Pb SHRIMP age and a 2.53 Ga LA-ICP- MS age from gneissic granodiorites in the north-central and south-central parts of the Zemlak Domain, respectively, also infer derivation from the Taltson basement complex.

About 80 km to the east, in the south-central Beaverlodge Domain, heterogeneous orthogneiss displaying a basement-cover relationship with the Murmac Bay group, yielded a complex new SHRIMP age of 3.32 Ga, which has been interpreted as the best estimate for crystallization of the oldest component of the orthogneiss, a gneissic granite. A second gneissic granite from the same area that does not exhibit the same unconformable relationship with the supracrustal rocks, also yielded a complex but younger 2.56 Ga SHRIMP age, which is also thought to record the time of crystallization. Both of these results are consistent with a model in which this area represents a further eastern extension of the Taltson basement complex. A granite from still farther east, near Fond-du-Lac, yielded a complicated LA-ICP-MS result suggesting crystallization in the 2.68 to 2.64 Ga range, consistent with this area being part of the proto-Rae craton.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9. 2 Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E8. 3 University of Alberta, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 1-26 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 39 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ Project: Geological Context of the Bassett Lake Gabbro and the Surrounding Volcanoplutonic Complex (Parts of NTS 73P/10, /11), La Ronge Domain

Ralf O. Maxeiner 1

Abstract The bedrock geology of a 40 km2 area centred on Bassett Lake was mapped at 1:20 000 scale with the aim of studying the Bassett Lake mafic intrusion, reevaluating its contact relationships with volcanic and plutonic rocks of the La Ronge Domain, collecting samples within the mafic intrusion to test for anomalous PGE concentrations, and visiting the Vidgy Lake gold occurrence. The Bassett Lake intrusion consists of a series of inwardly younging magnetiferous leucogabbro, gabbro, gabbronorite, and anorthosite. Rhythmic cumulate layering is locally very well preserved and is on the scale of centimetres to metres. Other interesting textural features within the mafic intrusion include the presence of irregular pegmatitic zones, crossbedded rhythmic layering, and metre-scale mafic volcanic xenoliths contained within a distinctly layered unit toward the central portion of the pluton. The Bassett Lake intrusion has intruded a succession of felsic to mafic volcanic rocks, which represent the main volcanic sequence of the central La Ronge Domain. The mafic intrusion itself is cut by leucotonalite along its western side and by diorite and tonalite-quartz diorite on its eastern margin.

The Triangle Lake Cu-Ni occurrence is located in the central part of the intrusion and consists of magnetite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite contained within a well-layered sequence of gabbro, anorthosite, gabbronorite, and minor troctolite. The Vidgy Lake gold occurrence is located along the northern margin of a diorite-tonalite quartz diorite intrusion, where it cuts felsic to intermediate volcanic rocks. Grab samples of ten mafic to ultramafic samples were evaluated for PGEs and two samples of volcanic rocks were submitted for gold assays; results were not available at time of abstract writing.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 40 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ Project: Bedrock Geology of the Clam Lake Area, Southern Rottenstone Domain and Trout Lake Area, Western Glennie Domain (Parts of NTS 73P/10, /11)

Ralf O. Maxeiner 1

Abstract The bedrock geology of two areas was mapped at 1:20 000 scale as part of the La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ project and samples were collected to conduct further geochemical and isotopic work. The 80 km2 Clam Lake area is located within the historic ‘Birch Rapids straight belt’ within the southeastern part of the Rottenstone Domain; the 140 km2 Trout Lake area straddles the boundary between the Rottenstone Domain and the Glennie Domain located to the east. These map areas lie to the south and north, respectively, of Black Bear Island Lake, which was the focus of bedrock mapping in 2012. The 2014 mapping was partly aimed at answering questions generated during the 2012 work. Steeply dipping, highly strained granitic gneisses encountered on the east side of Clam Lake are similar lithologically to the isotopically evolved Birch Rapids granitic gneisses previously identified at Black Bear Island Lake 30 km to the northeast. They are tentatively interpreted as being of Archean age and are separated by a high strain zone from Orosirian-aged psammopelitic to pelitic migmatites of the Birch Rapids assemblage to the west. The eastern margin of the granitic gneisses is also marked by high strain and is in contact with diatexitic rocks of uncertain derivation.

Trout Lake, the second area, is to the northeast of, and adjacent to, Black Bear Island Lake. The Birch Rapids granitic gneisses mark the western extent of the Trout Lake map area and have been affected by mylonitization. To the east, a kilometre-scale, south-plunging, F3 synform folds migmatitic sedimentary rocks of the Crew Lake assemblage, which were intruded by circa 1844 to 1838 Ma megacrystic monzodiorite to granite of the Rachkewich Lake pluton. The F3 synform is truncated by the mylonitic Birch Rapids granitic gneisses and the rocks contained in the synform do not reoccur to the west. The granitic gneisses themselves are not folded by the F3 structure and have therefore not been identified in the western Glennie Domain.

Based on the new mapping, some preliminary conclusion are that a) the Birch Rapids granitic gneisses are continuous for at least 40 km and are confined to the east side of the Rottenstone Domain, b) the mylonites on the east side of the Birch Rapids granitic gneisses are younger than F3 folding, although they likely have an earlier history, and c) a significant lithological and structural break exists along the eastern contact of the Birch Rapids granitic gneisses.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 41 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume U-Pb SHRIMP and Sm-Nd Isotopic Results from the La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ Project: Evidence for a New Archean Inlier and a 1.84 Ga Arc Complex Related to Subduction Under the Flin Flon–Glennie Complex

Ralf O. Maxeiner 1, Nicole M. Rayner 2, and Rob A. Creaser 3

Abstract Analytical results in support of the La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ project, a 1:20 000-scale bedrock mapping project northwest of La Ronge, are reported here together with preliminary conclusions. An area of granitic gneisses, suspected to represent a hitherto unrecognized Archean inlier in the southeastern Rottenstone Domain, yielded a calculated Sm-Nd model age of 3.29 Ga and an εNd(t) of -9.8 (t=1900 Ma), consistent with the field interpretations. This new area of isotopically evolved rocks is located about 30 km to the southeast of the Archean Black Bear Island Lake inlier. A feldspathic quartzite from a sedimentary succession (Sturdy Island assemblage) mantling the latter yielded 207Pb/206Pb ages between 2547 Ma and 1778 Ma, with the vast majority falling between 1940 and 1810 Ma. Replicate analyses on the youngest zircon constrain the maximum age of deposition to 1851 ±11 Ma. The Sturdy Island assemblage is cut by an undated phase of the Wathaman Batholith, which elsewhere yields ages of 1865 to 1850 Ma. Consequently, the age of deposition, taking the crosscutting relationship into account, must be around 1850 Ma. The Sm-Nd model age for the feldspathic quartzite is 2.65 Ga, with an εNd(t) of -4.4 (t=1900 Ma), which is consistent with the detrital zircon population of the sample.

In the western Glennie Domain, a homogeneous granodiorite (Nemeiben Lake intrusive suite) containing xenoliths of foliated granodiorite gneiss, yielded a crystallization age of 1853 ±3 Ma. A suite of megacrystic, hornblende- bearing monzonitic to granitic rocks (Rachkewich Lake pluton) cuts the Nemeiben Lake intrusive suite. A monzonite from this crosscutting suite yielded a U-Pb crystallization age of 1844 ±5 Ma, with the interpreted age of inherited zircon grains between 1879 and 1877 Ma. The calculated Sm-Nd model age (TDM) is 2.43 Ga and the εNd(t) value for the rock is -1.6 (t=1900 Ma), suggesting that the magma from which the rock crystallized has had some interaction with older crust.

Based on these new data, in conjunction with the field evidence, a first-order structural break is proposed separating Archean inliers and sedimentary sequences of the southern Rottenstone Domain from volcanoplutonic rocks of the Flin Flon–Glennie complex, of which the 1853 Ma Nemeiben Lake intrusive suite is a part. The crosscutting 1844 Ma Rachkewich Lake pluton represents a continental arc complex, built on the edge of the Flin Flon–Glennie complex, prior to its collision with Archean components such as the Sask craton.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9. 2 Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E8. 3 University of Alberta, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 1-26 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 42 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume U-Pb Geochronology and Sm-Nd Isotopic Tracing Results from the Saskatchewan Sub-Phanerozoic Project

Ryan M. Morelli 1, Nicole M. Rayner 2, and Rob A. Creaser 3

Abstract New U-Pb and Sm-Nd isotopic results are reported here for samples collected during the Saskatchewan sub- Phanerozoic mapping project. A drill core sample from the Northern Lights sub-domain, originally interpreted as psammite but reinterpreted as a felsic tuff, yielded a single detrital zircon core with a 207Pb/206Pb age of 1871 ±13 Ma (1σ) and multiple metamorphic zircon grains that yielded a weighted mean age of 1771 ±5 Ma. A drill core sample of felsic lapilli tuff from just west of the Nipekamew sub-domain contained abundant zircon grains that yielded a single statistical population with a mean 207Pb/206Pb age of 1866 ±6 Ma. This result is interpreted to approximate the depositional age of the lapilli tuff and associated oxide facies banded iron formation. A drill core sample of rapikivi granite that crosscuts the M2 zone mineralized sequence in the Suggi sub-domain yielded a crystallization age of 1782 ±4 Ma, as well as inherited grains with determined 207Pb/206Pb ages of 1842 ±10 Ma and 2656 ±36 Ma. Samples analyzed for Sm-Nd isotopic compositions include individual samples of sub-Phanerozoic clastic sedimentary rocks from both the Choiceland and southern Deschambault Lake areas, which yielded relatively depleted mantle model ages of ca. 2600 Ma and 2530 Ma, respectively. In contrast, two samples from the quartz-feldspar porphyritic rhyolite that hosts the sub-Phanerozoic Archibald Lake VMS prospect near Namew Lake yielded relatively juvenile εNd values of +3.7 and +3.8.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9. 2 Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E8. 3 University of Alberta, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 1-26 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E3.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 43 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Rare Earths in Saskatchewan: Mineralization Types, Settings, and Distribution

Charles Normand 1

Abstract Exploration for rare earth elements (REE) in Saskatchewan has intensified significantly in the early 2000s, following a sharp increase in demand and price for these metals and cutbacks in export quotas from China, which is by far the world’s leading producer of these metals. Consequently, the development of a comprehensive database for the location, ore deposit model, and exploration tools for REE mineralization in Saskatchewan was needed.

The recently released (September 2014) Report 264 entitled “Rare Earths in Saskatchewan: Mineralization Types, Settings, and Distributions” (accessible through http://www.er.gov.sk.ca/GeoPubsFinalReports), addresses part of the needs noted above.

Report 264 contains a compilation of 314 georeferenced spot locations where REE minerals, and bedrock REE geochemical anomalies, occurrences, and developed or undeveloped prospects have been reported. In addition to the mineral potential qualifiers ascribed to the locations above, REE mineralization was classified according to the relative predominance of light REE versus heavy REE and yttrium. Further subdivisions to the classification are made according to mineral associations, type of mineralization, and levels of enrichment in thorium and uranium. Detailed descriptions are provided for the most interesting mineralization for which sufficient information is available. With worldwide interest presently focussed on the heavy REE, it would appear from our current understanding of REE distribution in Saskatchewan that diagenetic-hydrothermal xenotime and unconformity- related uranium mineralization in and around the Athabasca Basin offer the best economic potential.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200 - 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, SK S4P 2H9.

Saskatchewan Geological Survey 44 Open House 2014, Abstract Volume Notes

Notes