Uranium – Northern Canada
The scientific research and results of this project are available via GEOSCAN.
The Uranium – Northern Canada project, part of the Geo-mapping for Energy and Minerals (GEM) program, will improve the framework and conceptual knowledge base of areas that are prospective for uranium, yet relatively unknown.
Project leader – Charlie Jefferson
Hypothesis:
Can exploration criteria from the Athabasca Basin such as hydrothermal alteration, reactivated faults, and basement geology be adapted to the poorly explored Thelon and other northern Paleoproterozoic basins?
Research objectives:
- improving knowledge of basin development and U pathways by studying the Thelon, Hornby Bay, Dessert Lake basins, and the Great Bear magmatic zone, to determine what attributes from the Athabasca Basin apply and what new aspects and methods must be developed;
- comparing the geological attributes of established and frontier areas using known deposit models that consider basin tectonic evolution, paleo-climate, mineral alteration, magmatism, uranium sources, transport paths and traps;
- generating more precise basement geological maps around and beneath basins prospective for unconformity U, focusing on the NE Thelon;
- tracing U sources and defining basement units beneath basins by integrating new geophysical and RADARSAT 2 data with detailed geological maps and rock properties data.
Scientific Highlights
- In the northeastern Thelon Basin recognition of nappe tectonics, stratigraphic, structural and magmatic controls on mineralization, and magmatic sources provide new insights into the origins and targeting of uranium deposits.
- New models for the Great Bear magmatic zone link uranium to base metal distribution in iron oxide-copper-gold systems.
Information about other GEM energy projects is available on the Geo-mapping for Energy web page.