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Unconformity-Associated Uranium Deposits of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan and Alberta C.W

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UNCONFORMITY-ASSOCIATED URANIUM DEPOSITS OF THE ATHABASCA BASIN, SASKATCHEWAN AND ALBERTA C.W. JEFFERSON1, D.J. THOMAS2, S.S. GANDHI1, P. RAMAEKERS3, G. DELANEY4, D. BRISBIN2, C. CUTTS5, D. QUIRT5, P. PORTELLA5, AND R.A. OLSON6 1. Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E8 2. Cameco Corporation, 2121 - 11th Street West, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7M 1J3 3. MF Resources, 832 Parkwood Drive SE, Calgary, Alberta T2J 2W7 4. Saskatchewan Industry and Resources, 2101 Scarth Street, Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 3V7 5. AREVA Resources Canada Inc., P.O. Box 9204, 817 - 45th Street W., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 3X5 6. Alberta Geological Survey, Energy Utilities Board, 4th Floor, Twin Atria, 4999 - 98 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T6B 2X3 Corresponding author’s email: [email protected] Abstract This review of the geology, geophysics, and origin of the unconformity-associated uranium deposit type is focused on the Athabasca Basin. Pods, veins, and semimassive replacements of uraninite (var. pitchblende) are located close to unconformities between late Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic conglomeratic sandstone basins and metamorphosed basement rocks. The thin, overall flat-lying, and apparently unmetamorphosed but pervasively altered, mainly fluvial strata include red to pale tan quartzose conglomerate, sandstone, and mudstone. Beneath the basal unconformity, red hematitic and bleached clay-altered regolith grades down through chloritic altered to fresh basement gneiss. The highly meta- morphosed interleaved Archean to Paleoproterozoic granitoid and supracrustal basement gneiss includes graphitic metapelitic that preferentially hosts reactivated shear zones and many deposits. A broad variety of deposit shapes, sizes and compositions ranges from monometallic and generally basement-hosted veins to polymetallic lenses located just above or straddling the unconformity, with variable Ni, Co, As, Pb and traces of Au, Pt, Cu, REEs, and Fe. Résumé Cet examen de la géologie, de la géophysique et de l’origine des gîtes d’uranium associés à des discordances est focalisé sur le bassin d’Athabasca. Les minéralisations d’uraninite (variété pechblende) qui prennent la forme de lentilles, de filons ou de corps semi-massifs de remplacement se situent près de la discordance entre des grès con- glomératiques de bassin du Paléoprotérozoïque tardif au Mésoprotérozoïque et les roches du socle métamorphisées. La succession sédimentaire de bassin est mince, repose dans l’ensemble à plat, est apparemment non métamorphisée, mais profondément altérée, et se compose principalement d’unités fluviatiles constituées de conglomérats quartzeux, de grès et de mudstones de couleur rouge à chamois pâle. Sous la discordance marquant la base de la succession sédimentaire, un régolite hématitique rouge, décoloré par endroits par une altération argileuse, passe progressivement vers les pro- fondeurs du socle à des gneiss chloritisés puis à des gneiss non altérés. Les roches très métamorphisées du socle, for- mées d’une intercalation de gneiss granitoïdes et de gneiss supracrustaux de l’Archéen au Paléoprotérozoïque, incluent des métapélites graphitiques qui renferment de manière préférentielle des zones de cisaillement réactivées et un grand nombre de gîtes. Les gîtes sont de formes, de dimensions et de compositions très variées, passant de minéralisations monométalliques, généralement sous forme de filons encaissés dans le socle, à des lentilles polymétalliques présentant des concentrations variables de Ni, Co, As, Pb et des traces de Au, Pt, Cu, de terres rares et de Fe, qui se situent à cheval sur la discordance ou à peu de distance au-dessus. exploration criteria are summarized for geology, geochem- Introduction istry, and geophysics. Genetic and exploration models are This synopsis of unconformity-associated uranium (also reviewed in terms of conventional knowledge and recent unconformity-related and -type) deposits emphasizes the advances, with reference to uranium sources, transport and Athabasca Basin. The empirical term ‘associated’ is chosen focus of deposition. Conceptual and applied knowledge gaps because some genetic aspects are still under debate and the are evaluated at the district and deposit scales. New lines of deposits occupy a wide range of spatial positions and shapes research and areas of uranium potential are proposed. with respect to the unconformity. An expanded version of this paper introduces the final volume for EXTECH IV, Definition Athabasca Uranium Multidisciplinary Study (Jefferson et al., Unconformity-associated uranium deposits are pods, 2007). Citations therefore include the most recent publica- veins, and semimassive replacements consisting of mainly tions of EXTECH IV in addition to classic references. uraninite dated mostly 1600 to 1350 Ma, and located close to After a concise definition, the grade, tonnage, and value basal unconformities between Proterozoic redbed basins and statistics of unconformity-associated uranium deposits are metamorphosed basement rocks, especially supracrustal provided in global and Canadian context. Geological attrib- gneiss with graphitic metapelite. Prospective basins in utes are summarized on continental, district, and deposit Canada (Figs. 1, 2) are 1 to 3 kilometres thick, relatively flat- scales: favourable expressions of deposits; their size, mor- lying, unmetamorphosed but pervasively altered, phology, and architecture; ore mineralogy and composition; Proterozoic (ca. 1.8 to <1.55 Ga), mainly fluvial conglomer- and alteration mineralogy, geochemistry, and zonation. Key atic sandstone. The basement gneiss is paleoweathered with Jefferson, C.W., Thomas, D.J., Gandhi, S.S., Ramaekers, P., Delaney, G., Brisbin, D., Cutts, C., Quirt, D., Portella, P., and Olson, R.A., 2007, Unconformity- associated uranium deposits of the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan and Alberta, in Goodfellow, W.D., ed., Mineral Deposits of Canada: A Synthesis of Major Deposit-Types, District Metallogeny, the Evolution of Geological Provinces, and Exploration Methods: Geological Association of Canada, Mineral Deposits Division, Special Publication No. 5, p. 273-305. C.W. Jefferson, D.J. Thomas, S.S. Gandhi, P. Ramaekers, G. Delaney, D. Brisbin, C. Cutts, D. Quirt, P. Portella, and R.A. Olson variably preserved thicknesses of reddened, clay-altered hematitic km A - Athabasca regolith grading down through a 0 1000 B - Borden green chloritic zone into fresh NeoproterozoicNeoproterozoic E - Elu rock. Monometallic, generally H - Hornby Bay basement-hosted ore pods, veins, Hr - Huronian . Hz - Hurwitz A and breccia in reactivated fault . M - Makkovik .S B zones. Polymetallic, commonly U O - Otish Mts. subhorizontal ore lenses straddle Sa - Sakami H E Sb - Sibley the unconformity, replacing sand- Phanerozoic stone and altered basement rock Sm - Sims Orogen T - Thelon with variable amounts of U, Ni, T Co, and As, and traces of Au, HHzz M PGEs, Cu, REEs, and Fe. Oroge A SSmm Grade, Tonnage, and Value Paleoproterozoic SSaa Statistics n O PPhanerozoichanerozoic Archean rogen Global Unconformity Resources ccoverover O World uranium resources are Sb contained in some fourteen differ- U. S. A. Hr ent types of deposits (Organization Grenville for Economic Co-operation and Paleo- & Mesoproterozoic basins Development, Nuclear Energy Agency, and the International FIGURE 1. Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic basins within the Canadian Shield that contain unconformity-associated Atomic Energy, 2004), with uranium deposits (e.g. Athabasca and Thelon) or are considered to have potential for them. Proterozoic unconformity deposits constituting more than 33%, mainly in Australia and Canada. MMeso-eso- andand Uranium resource data for NNeoproterozoiceoproterozoic HHornbyornby EElulu Canadian and comparative BayBay B Basinasin BasinBasin 668º8º NN n e n e n y Australian unconformity deposits g o rh p ro zzone n u n RRae e o are compiled with original refer- O e e PPenrhynr y c a GGroup a NNorthwest i e d k o n u u c e ences in the digital Canada m r a p t o QQueen o SSubprovince o hw t l e NNunavut c MaudeM blockb u Minerals Database by Gandhi WWopmay Orogen e r b st un ttectonic e av m p p (2007). Appendix 1 (CD-ROM) TTerritoriese ut AAmerou r rrit r o orie GGroup v and Figure 3 summarize individual s in c n e grades and tonnages of 42 Slave lo e TThelonhelon plift Canadian and Australian deposits, h uuplift Province TThelon BBasinasin K illustrating their current relative elldd ain rfi om importance. Table 1 provides totals ne te e D ZZoneo B es arn c º h e i CChesterfieH CCentral Hearne WWestern Churchill2 ProvinceW for the Athabasca and Thelon t RRae Subprovince NNW Hearnee Domai a a e 0 n e s t 1102º r basins. The Hornby Bay and Elu mmatic S te Z DomainD a u T o l g r bp n SSTZHHearne Subprovincem H Hudson basins are less well explored and a e HHurwitzurwitz e ro a a v C a in r Bay MMag i GroupGroup no unconformity resources have nc h rn n e ur e e been outlined (Roscoe, 1984; n ch S o il u N s l b 60º t BBeaverlodge p Gandhi, 2007). l eave P rlodge r ro a o v 100 km Unconformity deposits of the TTaltso L n v in BBL sto in c AAthabascatha olla in c e Athabasca Basin are the world’s basca WWollastonma e DDomaino largest storehouse of high-grade U BBasinasin Unconformity- TTrans-Hudson resources and are the sole produc- PPhanerozoic ra ith associated h n n Bathol a WWaatthamanhama Batholiths PPhanerozoic U deposits ers of Canada’s primary U. The n R k -H h e VVR ti a º u r ja in DDomainomain d n most spectacular grades and ton- o 0 d a e s e Meso-Paleo- z 1 u m nne o r o o o 1110º MMudjatiko t n proterozoic nages (Appendix 1, Fig. 3) are i ns z c DDomain te OOrogen o ot r ic those of Cigar Lake (east and west RRottensto og Paleoprotero- zones combined=875 kilotonnes of AAlbertalberta SSaskatchewanaskatchewan MManitobaanitoba en zoic strata ore grading ~15% and containing FIGURE 2. Location of unconformity-associated occurrences and the Athabasca Basin relative to major tec- 131,400 tonnes U) and McArthur tonic elements of the northwestern Canadian Shield, after Thomas et al.
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