open house 2015 abstract volume saskatchewan geological … · 2019. 1. 10. · saskatchewan...

November 30 to December 2, 2015

Open House 2015 Abstract Volume Saskatchewan Geological Survey

Printed under the authority of the Government of Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Geological Survey ii Open House 2015, Abstract Volume

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: The Birch Rapids gneissic syenogranite (bottom right) is part of a newly recognized isotopically evolved inlier that occurs along the eastern extent of the southern Rottenstone Domain in the Reindeer Zone, west of Trout Lake (upper left). A sample collected from the central part of the Birch Rapids inlier yielded numerous euhedral zircon grains (lower left) that were used to calculate an unpublished preliminary crystallization age of ca. 2045 Ma (upper right), a highly unusual age for a granite from the Reindeer Zone. The age is tentatively interpreted to be most likely related to rifting that led to the formation of the Manikewan Ocean. Details relating to this sample and other aspects of the La Ronge Horseshoe project will be presented in a talk by Maxeiner et al. (this volume, page 12).

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

Saskatchewan Geological Survey iii Open House 2015, Abstract Volume

Contents

page Technical Session 1: Uranium Geoscience and Exploration

* Unravelling the Exhumation History of the Eastern Hearne Craton Using a Layered, Digital-mapping Strategy: A Case Study from NTS Area 74H .......................................... Colin D. Card 2

A Background Fluid P-T-X and Hydrodynamic Characterization of the Athabasca Basin and Significance for Unconformity-related Uranium Mineralization ............ Guoxiang Chi, Haixia Chu, Ryan Scott, Zenghua Li, Sean Bosman, and Colin Card 3

* Petrographic, Geochronological, and Stable Isotope Studies of the Maw Zone REE Deposit: Implications for Potential Relationship with Unconformity-related Uranium Mineralization in Southeastern Athabasca Basin ...................... Morteza Rabiei, Guoxiang Chi, Charles Normand, William J. Davis, and Mostafa Fayek 4

A Orion 3D Resistivity Imaging at the Phoenix Uranium Deposit ......................................... Roger Sharpe, Larry Petrie, and Jimmy Stephen 5

* Athabasca Group + Martin Group = Athabasca Supergroup? Results of a Basin-wide Stratigraphic Compilation ............................................................. Sean A. Bosman and Paul Ramaekers 6

A Geochronology and Geochemistry of Uranium-associated Resistate Indicator Minerals (U-RIMs) at Roughrider: A New Age Technique for Age-old Problems ................................. Alistair J. McCready, Alan Kobussen, and Rachelle A. Boulanger 7

A NSERC-CMIC Multidisciplinary Mineral Exploration Research Network: The Next Generation of Mineral Exploration Models ........................................................... C.M. Lesher and the Mineral Exploration Research Network 8

* Multiple Generations of Albitization in the Beaverlodge Uranium District and their Relationship to Uranium Mineralization ........................................................... Jacklynn Kennicott, Guoxiang Chi, and Ken Ashton 9

A Arrow: A Rapidly Growing Uranium Discovery ......................................................... Garrett Ainsworth 10

Technical Session 2: Geology and Mineral Deposits of the Reindeer Zone

A La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ Project: Advancing Our Understanding of the Reindeer Zone .............................. Ralf O. Maxeiner, Ryan M. Morelli, Nicole M. Rayner, and Robert A. Creaser 12

* Structural-Stratigraphic Transitions and their Implications for Base Metal Mineralization in the Brabant Lake Area of the Reindeer Zone ............................................................ Ryan M. Morelli, Yinghui Zhang, and Ryan D. Bachynski 13

A Bigstone: A High Grade VMS Deposit in the Western Flin Flon–Glennie Complex ....................................................................................... Roger B. March and Dave B. Fleming 14

A An Overview of the Geological, Geochemical, and Geophysical Results from the Kettle Falls Gold Project: Vectors to Newly Discovered Gold Mineralization along the Tabbernor Lake Fault ......................................... Michelle A. McKeough and Jarrod A. Brown 15

A Geochemistry of the Supracrustal Assemblages of the Pine Lake Greenstone Belt, Seabee Mine Area: Preliminary Results and Lithostratigraphic Implications ........ Devon Stuebing and Dr. Kathryn Bethune 16

A Profitable Mining at Seabee Allows for Renewed Emphasis on Exploration ................... Anders Carlson and Brian Skanderbeg 17

Saskatchewan Geological Survey iv Open House 2015, Abstract Volume

page Technical Session 3: Exploration Overviews and Tantato Domain Geoscience

A Overview of Mining and Mineral Exploration and Development Activity in Saskatchewan for 2015 ................................................................................................... Gary Delaney and the Saskatchewan Geological Survey Staff 20

A Exploration – It’s Our Future .......................................................................................... Andrew Cheatle 21

* Bedrock Mapping in the Tantato Domain: Comments on Ni-Cu Mineralization and Protracted Deformation along the Northern Margin of the Athabasca Basin ............................................................................ Bernadette Knox and Jaida Lamming 22

A A Region with a Complicated Past – New Monazite Ages from the Tantato Domain .................................................................................. Jaida Lamming, Bernadette Knox, Kyle Larson, John Cottle, and Janelle McAtamney 23

* Geology of the Axis Lake East Zone Ni-Cu Deposit .................................................... Charles Normand 24

A Spectral, Multispectral, Hyperspectral: What Works, What Could Work, and What Will Not Work ................................................................................................... Anna Fonseca 25

A A Capacitive Line Antenna for the Reduction of Near Surface Noise in Magnetotellurics Data.......................................................................... David Goldak and Ryan Olson 26

A Magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE Mineralization in Canada ............................... C.M. Lesher and Michel G. Houlé 27

Technical Session 4: Potash and Diamonds

A An Update about the Current State of the K+S Legacy Project ..................................... Megan Frederick 30

A New Advances in the Analysis of Potash by State of the Art QEMSCAN Instrument......................................................................... Lucy Hunt and Steven Creighton 31

* Complications of Drift Prospecting in a Paleo-glaciolacustrine Environment, Northern Saskatchewan ............................................................................................. Michelle A. Hanson 32

A Is There an Archean Lithospheric Mantle Root Beneath the Sask Craton, Canada? Constraints from Peridotite Xenoliths in the Fort à la Corne Kimberlite Field .................... Janina Czas, D. Graham Pearson, Thomas Stachel, George H. Read, and Bruce A. Kjarsgaard 33

A Star–Orion South Diamond Project: Revised Resource Estimate ................ George Read, Mark Shimell, Bill van Breugel, and Brian Desgagnes 34

A Update on 2014 and 2015 Exploration at the Pikoo Diamond Project ............................. Ken Armstrong 35

Abstracts for Other Saskatchewan Geological Survey Geoscience Investigations

* Age and Isotopic Results from the La Ronge Horseshoe Project: Age of the Black Bear Island Lake Inlier and Provenance of Sedimentary Assemblages in the Western Reindeer Zone ................................................................................................ Ralf O. Maxeiner, Nicole M. Rayner, and Robert A. Creaser 38

A Indicates an Open House 2015 talk abstract only. * Indicates a paper found in the Summary of Investigations 2015, Volume 2. These papers are found at: www.economy.gov.sk.ca/soi.

http://www.economy.gov.sk.ca/soi

Saskatchewan Geological Survey Open House 2015, Abstract Volume 1

Technical Session 1: Uranium Geoscience and Exploration


Unravelling the Exhumation History of the Eastern Hearne Craton Using a Layered, Digital-mapping Strategy: A Case Study from

NTS Area 74H

Colin D. Card 1

Abstract Sub-Athabasca group basement mapping in NTS area 74H was completed using multiple datasets and included an extensive review of the drillcore information in the region. It is interesting to consider the inherent bias in the drillcore dataset and how this might affect the resulting map products. Uranium exploration drillholes target features thought to represent faults zones, such as EM conductors, and geophysical anomalies that might be indicative of alteration features. This means that it is highly likely that the intersected rocks will contain manifestations of both fault-zone processes, i.e., strain, and alteration, i.e., metasomatic mineral assemblages. This contrasts the types of rocks encountered in traditional bedrock-mapping programs, which are commonly positively weathering, less-altered rocks rather than negatively weathering fault zones and alteration zones. As a result, comparison of drillcore and outcrop geology is complicated by mineral assemblages that grew under different conditions; in this case, one where metasomatic processes related to fault zones dominated versus a second where peak-metamorphic assemblages persist.

In spite of this, a heavy emphasis has traditionally been placed on mapping rock protolith in drillcore, largely due to the belief that basement metasedimentary rocks are a primary control on the ore system. This compilation has led to the recognition that many mineral assemblages in rocks of the targeted fault zones are metasomatic rather than indicative of peak metamorphic assemblages, which are more likely to be representative of rock protolith. Furthermore, these metasomatic minerals were the result of an open system where there was both elemental addition and subtraction in rock protoliths, i.e., an open system (advection). As a result, these mineral assemblages cannot be used to determine rock protolith. Although a protolith map was compiled during the project, maps of rock types that postdate the peak of high-grade metamorphism and of rocks with specific metasomatic mineral assemblages have also been compiled. Chief among these are pegmatite-distribution maps and maps of the distribution of two later, multi-phase mineral groups: graphite-chlorite; and quartz-garnet-tourmaline. Although metamorphic graphite has commonly been cited as a component of pelites regionally, graphite-chlorite–bearing rocks in drillcore have a dominantly metasomatic origin, reflecting cycling of carbon-bearing fluids in fault zones after emplacement of the pegmatites. Unfortunately, graphite-chlorite–bearing rocks have been widely used to determine the regional distribution of pelites, an invalid assumption. Quartz-garnet-tourmaline–bearing rocks, common in quartz ridges along some of the most prospective fault systems, grew as a result of widespread and pervasive silicification that apparently postdates the earliest metasomatic graphite and chlorite. These minerals have been erroneously used to assume sedimentary protoliths such as orthoquartzite, arkose and iron formation. Together with pegmatite, the graphite-chlorite–bearing and quartz-garnet-tourmaline–bearing rocks record decompression and dewatering at the end of the Trans-Hudson orogeny along the retrograde metamorphic path and/or later hydrothermal alterations due to high-heat flow after Trans-Hudson orogeny.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8


Background Fluid P-T-X and Hydrodynamic Characterization of the Athabasca Basin and Significance for Unconformity-related

Uranium Mineralization

Guoxiang Chi 1, Haixia Chu 1, Ryan Scott 1, Zenghua Li 1, Sean Bosman 2, and Colin Card 2

Abstract It has been generally agreed that the mineralizing fluids responsible for unconformity-related uranium deposits associated with the Athabasca Basin were dominantly brines derived from the basin. However, most of the information about the P-T-X properties of the basinal brines has been obtained from the mineral deposits, and relatively little is known about the background fluid compositions and P-T conditions of the basinal fluids before they arrived at the sites of mineralization. It is also not well understood what drove the circulation of the basinal fluids.

In recent years we carried out a series of diagenetic and geochemical studies of drill cores from barren areas far away from mineralization as well as basin-scale numerical modelling of fluid pressure and temperature under normal burial conditions. The numerical modelling results indicate that the fluid pressure was nearly hydrostatic and the isotherms were nearly horizontal throughout the basin deposition history under normal sediment compaction conditions. On the other hand, microthermometric studies of fluid inclusions entrapped in quartz overgrowths and temperatures estimated from illite geothermometers across the basin suggest that the basin experienced temperatures much higher than expected from a normal (35°C/km) thermal gradient. It is also found that many fluid inclusions within the basin are rich in calcium, indicating that calcium-rich brines were developed within the Athabasca Basin and are not limited to the uranium deposits. Geochemical analysis of redbeds and bleached counterparts and mass balance calculations suggest that uranium concentrations in the basinal fluids were much lower than the mineralizing fluids at the time of bleaching in the central part of the basin.

These new results are interpreted to indicate that the basinal fluids experienced extensive thermal convection, possibly related to regional thermal events during and after basin sedimentation. The basinal brines obtained their calcium either from the basin (implying presence of calcium-rich precursor lithologies in the basin) or from the basement (implying penetration of the convection cells into the upper part of the basement). The convective fluid flow may have extracted uranium from either the sediments or the basement, but the uranium concentrations in the basinal brines were inhomogeneous both in time and space. The new basinal fluid P-T-X data, combined with recently published geochronological data of uraninite and host rocks, suggest that the unconformity-related uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin may have formed in environments much shallower than previously thought, probably of epithermal nature.

1 University of Regina, Department of Geology, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2 2 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8


Petrographic, Geochronological, and Stable Isotope Studies of the Maw Zone REE Deposit: Implications for Potential Relationship

with Unconformity-related Uranium Mineralization in Southeastern Athabasca Basin

Morteza Rabiei 1, Guoxiang Chi 1, Charles Normand 2, William J. Davis 3, and Mostafa Fayek 4

Abstract The Maw Zone REE deposit, 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”), and their similarities in alterations, led geologists to consider a genetic relationship.

Petrographic studies indicate that the tourmaline (mainly of magnesiofoitite composition) in the Maw Zone, which is the most abundant alteration mineral, is similar to those found in the McArthur River and Phoenix uranium deposits in terms of composition, texture, and paragenetic position. Xenotime is shown to have formed after significant compaction rather than in early diagenesis, and is contemporaneous with one phase of tourmaline comparable to the one associated with uranium mineralization in the McArthur River deposit. SIMS analysis of oxygen isotopes of co-existing euhedral quartz and tourmaline suggests that the average temperature of the hydrothermal fluid is 163°C, and the average δ18Ofluid value is -1.8‰ (V-SMOW). SHRIMP U-Pb dating of xenotime indicates that the REE mineralization is of the same age as the major primary unconformity-related uranium mineralization in eastern Athabasca Basin. These results suggest that the Maw Zone REE deposit was formed from the same hydrothermal systems associated with the unconformity-related uranium deposits, possibly in a shallow environment involving hydrothermal fluid and meteoric water.

1 University of Regina, Department of Geology, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2 2 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8 3 Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E8 4 University of Manitoba, Department of Geological Sciences, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2


Orion 3D Resistivity Imaging at the Phoenix Uranium Deposit

Roger Sharpe 1, Larry Petrie 2, and Jimmy Stephen 1

Abstract Wheeler River is Denison’s flagship exploration property. The property is located along the eastern edge of the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan and is located approximately 35 km north-northeast of the Key Lake mill and 35 km southwest of the McArthur River uranium mine. Denison assumed operatorship in 2004 and initially focused on the footwall side of the quartzite ridge (west side of the property) intersecting sub-economic uranium mineralization. In 2008, three resistivity targets were drilled leading to the discovery of the Phoenix deposit. Subsequent drilling has discovered two additional significant mineralized zones: the 489 Zone and Gryphon.

The Phoenix deposit is located at the sub-Athabasca unconformity, at a depth of approximately 400 metres below the surface, at the intersection of a graphitic fault zone and the unconformity. Mineralization is monomineralic uraninite/pitchblende. The total indicated mineral resource estimate is 70,200,000 pounds of U3O8 based on 166,400 tonnes of mineralization at an average grade of 19.13% U3O8.

In the 2014-2015 exploration season, Denison contracted Quantec Geoscience to perform an Orion 3D resistivity and induced polarization survey that covered the Phoenix and 489 Zone mineralization occurrences. This 3D survey consists of a large array of an ostensibly equal number of orthogonal dipoles arranged in a ‘patch’ approximately 2.5 x 2.5 km in size. The simultaneously-measured dipole or channel count of an Orion 3D survey is approximately 300 receiver channels. Into this array, approximately 400 transmits are injected. The transmits are dispersed on a regular pattern throughout the array of receiver channels. The result is an unbiased, omni-direction database of voltages at each receiver that is used with 3D inversion software to calculate both a DC resistivity volumetric earth model and a chargeability or induced polarization volumetric earth model. Because the Orion 3D receiver deployment is stationary over many nights (approximately 3 weeks), the array is also configured to collect natural field MT data overnight, when MT signals are strongest and IP transmits are not occurring. Usually the MT survey measures the low frequency (LF) band between a 1000 seconds period and 250 Hz, but for this work, a subset of the MT was also collected using the HF band such that information for a suite of loggers directly over Phoenix has been collected between 1000 seconds and 10 kHz.

The presentation will focus on the facts in the 3D data, the 3D volumetric models, and the anomalous relationships to the Phoenix deposit and the geologic environment northeast of the Phoenix deposit. The workup has been performed in collaboration with Denison, and inversion models that were prepared independently by Denison using the Loke 3D inversion code will be presented along with models prepared by Quantec using the UBC 3D inversion code.

1 Quantec Geoscience Limited, 146 Sparks Avenue, Toronto, ON M2H 2S4 2 Denison Mines Corp., 230 22nd Street E, Suite 200, Saskatoon, SK S7K 0E9


Athabasca Group + Martin Group = Athabasca Supergroup? Results of a Basin-wide Stratigraphic Compilation

Sean A. Bosman 1 and Paul Ramaekers 2

Abstract Multiparameter drill logs are useful in describing and delineating the strata of the stacked Jackfish, Cree and Mirror basins that comprise the present-day Athabasca Basin region. The following update is based on 427 multiparameter drill logs from across the Athabasca Basin with the stratigraphic picks tabulated in Data File 39. In addition to the stratigraphic picks, contacts for the Quaternary and Phanerozoic cover, intrusive mafic-ultramafic rocks, and crystalline basement rocks are shown. The standardized core logging procedures of the EXploration science and TECHnology initiative (EXTECH IV) and subsequent Saskatchewan Geological Survey stratigraphy programs were utilized, with more than twice the number of drillholes used than in previous compilations. The new picks and consideration of regional correlations further document and develop the revision of the EXTECH IV stratigraphic scheme. The main results are:

1. Raising the Athabasca Group to supergroup status to include several unmetamorphosed, stacked sedimentary basins including the Martin, Jackfish, Cree and Mirror basins.

2. The recognition that the Martin Group and Fair Point Group share similar lithological characteristics and are related to extensional processes taking place during the Trans-Hudson Orogen.

3. Raising the Fair Point, Manitou Falls, Lazenby Lake and Wolverine Point formations to group status.

4. Inclusion of the Locker Lake to Carswell formations in the McFarlane Group, which is correlative with the Dismal Lakes Group in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories both temporally and lithologically, further supporting elevation of the Athabasca succession to that of supergroup.

5. The recognition that the Read Formation forms a southeast- to northwest-trending trough that is the structural and depositional axis of the Cree Basin.

6. The correlation of several strata (e.g., Warnes, Hodge, Clampitt-Dunlop) across the Cree Basin, making some Manitou Falls Formation subunit names obsolete.

7. Raising the stratigraphic rank of several other formations and members.

An updated Athabasca Basin geological map based on these stratigraphic picks with the provisional changes indicated has been drafted.

The compilation and interpretation of Data File 39 has resulted in fewer, and better defined, stratigraphic units that can be traced throughout the Cree Basin. The new mapping more clearly shows the structural development of the Jackfish, Cree and Mirror basins. The stratigraphic reassignments of the old Athabasca Group within the supergroup framework better illustrates the regional correlation with other basins such as in the Baker Lake and Hornby Bay regions. This helps to focus on the crustal-scale extensional events that resulted both in the formation of the stacked Athabasca basins, and in establishing the conditions under which the Athabasca unconformity-type orebodies were emplaced.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8 2 MF Resources Inc., 832 Parkwood Drive SE, Calgary, AB T2J 3W7


Geochronology and Geochemistry of Uranium-associated Resistate Indicator Minerals (U-RIMs) at Roughrider: A New Age Technique

for Age-old Problems

Alistair J. McCready 1, Alan Kobussen 2, and Rachelle A. Boulanger 3

Abstract Since 2005, Rio Tinto Exploration (RTX) has been developing micro-analytical technologies for indicator mineral analysis to support its global diamond exploration activities and, more recently, for other commodities using Resistate Indicator Minerals (RIMs), based on similar concepts. Application of this technology to uranium exploration (U-RIMs) has thus far been limited. The first U-RIMs study in Canada was recently initiated at the Roughrider uranium deposit, in northern Saskatchewan. While this study remains in its infancy, preliminary results for variation in zircon chemistry with time, pyrite textural analysis and aluminium phosphate-sulphate mineralogy are presented here.

In an attempt to resolve an ongoing geological debate into the origin of a sequence of basement rocks (Archean orthogneiss vs Wollaston paragneiss), U-Pb zircon geochronology of 8 samples was undertaken as part of the U-RIMs study at Rio Tinto’s internal labs and in parallel at CODES, University of Tasmania. All samples yield complex results that often do not provide an unambiguous answer. However, some samples do yield definitive results including: 1) a crystallization age of 2682 ±26 Ma for the Midwest/Waterbury Dome, 2) the identification of a strongly strained, pre-Hudsonian intrusion dated at 1864 ±28 Ma, and 3) an undeformed granite that surprisingly yields a crystallization age of 2611 ±65 Ma. The latter two are examples of the inherent dangers of ascribing ages to lithologies during drill core logging.

Uranium concentrations in zircons range from <100 ppm to >3500 ppm and Th/U ratios range from 1.377 to 0.008. When plotted against their respective 207Pb/206Pb age, the data reveal a temporal relationship between increasing U contents and lower Th/U with decreasing age. Several workers have previously documented high-uranium zircons in Hudsonian pegmatites in the Athabasca; however, this study is believed to be the first to document this temporal trend extending from the Archean to the Hudsonian. Data from other Lower Proterozoic granites and granitic gneisses in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Northwest Territories do not show this trend. It is postulated that this trend may be related to the world-class uranium endowment of the Eastern Athabasca.

Pyrite grains locally rimmed by thorium-poor uranium phases, including uraninite, coffinite and uranophane, have been identified in a sample of fresh semi-pelitic gneiss. The pyrites are interpreted to be post-peak metamorphism and hydrothermal in origin, and are taken as evidence of pyrite acting as a reductant for uranium; a possible microcosm for the reductive process in mineralized systems. Furthermore, their occurrence in basement rocks, which do not show any evidence of alteration or high permeability, may provide insights into uranium mobility and migration in basement rocks.

Aluminium phosphate-sulphate (APS) minerals are ubiquitous throughout the Athabasca Basin, with a plethora of work reported in the literature. This work is generally based on a thin-section scale. Application of U-RIMs technology may provide a complementary method of assessing the nature and geochemistry of APS on a larger sample-scale, minimizing potential sample bias. Preliminary results identify a variation in APS abundance and speciation with proximity to mineralization. However, further quantitative trace-element geochemistry and sample suite expansion are required.

1 Rio Tinto Exploration, 354–200 Granville Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1S4 2 Rio Tinto Exploration, 1 Research Avenue, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia 3083 3 Rio Tinto Exploration, 233 Faithfull Crescent, Saskatoon, SK S7K 8H7


NSERC-CMIC Multidisciplinary Mineral Exploration Research Network: The Next Generation of Mineral Exploration Models

C.M. Lesher 1 and the Mineral Exploration Research Network

Abstract The objectives of the Mineral Exploration Footprints Network are to: 1) enhance the ability of the Canadian mining industry to recognize the entire “footprint” of ore deposits from their high-grade cores to their most distant cryptic margins, 2) develop methods that truly integrate (not just layer) the comprehensive range of multi-scale 3D geological-structural-lithological-mineralogical-geochemical-petrophysical-geophysical data that define ore deposit footprints, and 3) develop workflows for how specialists in these areas need to interact in order to accomplish these goals. Phase I of the program is focusing on the footprints of the Canadian Malartic disseminated gold deposit, the McArthur River and Millennium uranium deposits, and the Highland Valley porphyry copper deposit. New and reprocessed /QAQC-controlled geological, structural, whole-rock lithogeochemical-isotopic, mineral chemical-isotopic, surface-drill core hyperspectral, multi-media surficial geochemical-isotopic, and surface-drill core-borehole petrophysical properties (including core IP spectral) to constrain inversions of airborne-ground-borehole geophysical data are being integrated to define or extend multiple footprints at each site. For example, at Canadian Malartic multiple alteration halos have been defined using lithogeochemical-mineral chemical- isotopic-hyperspectral-physical property data not only in the host metasedimentary rocks, but also in associated meta-basic dikes, which provide a greater geochemical contrast and are therefore a more sensitive indicator of ore-related alteration. At McArthur River and Millennium, S-wave seismic and physical property data for the glacial overburden are being used to remove their influence on the gravity signatures of the ore-related alteration zones. At Millennium, innovative processing techniques are being developed to extract physical property information from legacy 3D-3C seismic data to identify alteration and vertical structures, and fusion of geochemical and 3D pole-pole resistivity data will allow the numerical characterization of how host rock resistivity varies as a function of alteration intensity and mineralization. At Highland Valley, traditional feldspar staining, visible-near IR spectral analysis, multi-element ICP analysis, and petrologic methods have been integrated with detailed geologic-structural-vein mapping to better define the alteration footprint in a system with multiple ore centers, multiple types of alteration fluids, and variable stages of erosion and post-mineral cover. We are in the process of integrating the various data types and inversions in GOCAD to produce self-consistent Common Earth Models, and using deterministic and nondeterministic multivariate statistical methods, including heat map clustering and HyperCube®, to extract more information out of the data and to develop more sensitive and more robust vectors to mineralization.

NSERC-CMIC Exploration Footprints Network Contribution #051.

1 Mineral Exploration Research Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Goodman School of Mines, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6


Multiple Generations of Albitization in the Beaverlodge Uranium District and their Relationship to Uranium Mineralization

Jacklynn Kennicott 1, Guoxiang Chi 1, and Ken Ashton 2

Albitization has long been noted as having a spatial association with uranium mineralization in the Beaverlodge uranium district; however, a genetic relationship between the two has yet to be demonstrated. Previous studies mainly focus on albitization in 1.94 to 1.92 Ga granite, but new field and petrographic studies have shown that albitization is also developed in other units including the ca. 2.33 Ga Murmac Bay Group amphibolite and the ca. 1.82 Ga Martin Group sedimentary rocks. The albitization can be divided into two types, pervasive, replacement-type and vein-type, which together can be grouped into four generations (alb1-alb4).

The pervasive, replacement-type albitization occurs primarily as extensive alteration zones in granitic rocks and as irregular patches in amphibolite near albite-bearing veins. The massive albitization zones in granites are composed dominantly of albite (alb1), which mimics the original grain size in the unaltered granites and is characterized by an abundance of microscopic red iron oxide inclusions. The alb1 postdates the regional foliation in the granites, but shows varying degrees of deformation. Along some grain boundaries, and internally, alb1 has locally been deformed and recrystallized to form finer grained, subhedral albite (alb2) characterized by fewer microscopic iron oxide inclusions, and is associated with specular hematite, subhedral rutile and subhedral-euhedral apatite, followed by carbonate (cab1). The replacement-type albitization in amphibolite has similar features to those occurring in the veins described below, although the possibility that some of them may be equivalent to alb1 in the granites cannot be ruled out.

The vein-type albitization is divided into two generations (alb3 and alb4). Alb3 veins are essentially monomineralic, typically containing abundant iron oxide inclusions and exhibiting evidence of brittle-ductile deformation. Alb4 veins are characterized by euhedral albite crystals that are relatively free of hematite inclusions and have grown perpendicular to, and lining, the straight-sided vein margins. The cores of alb4 veins are filled by carbonate (cab2). Alb3 veins are developed in Murmac Bay Group amphibolite, but apparently not in the Martin Group sedimentary rocks, whereas alb4 veins are developed in all units including intrusive granites. Alb3 veins are crosscut by alb4 veins, which are found to host vein-type uranium mineralization in amphibolite. Chlorite grown before, after and between alb3 and alb4 veins in the amphibolite has temperatures in the range of 202 to 329°C, which partly overlap with the temperatures previously estimated for the vein-type uranium mineralization.

Based on these observations, it is proposed that the massive albitization (alb1) and recrystallization (alb2) in the leucogranites predate vein-type uranium mineralization, but may have played a role in ground preparation for the mineralization by enhancing the porosity and permeability. Fluids responsible for the precipitation of albite in veins, however, are genetically linked at least locally to the mineralizing fluids.

1 University of Regina, Department of Geology, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2 2 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8


Arrow: A Rapidly Growing Uranium Discovery

Garrett Ainsworth 1

Abstract The Arrow zone is a basement-hosted uranium discovery made by NexGen Energy Ltd. in February 2014 at its Rook I property in the southwest Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan. A total of 54,211 m in 78 diamond drill holes has been reported at Arrow to date. Seventy-six of the 78 drill holes have intersected uranium mineralization with the best continuous mineralized intercept coming from angled drill hole AR-14-44b, which returned 68.5 m at 9.56% U3O8. Uranium mineralization is associated with numerous sub-vertical graphitic shears across a strike length of 645 m, width of 235 m, and vertical extent of 920 m, and remains open in all directions.

Arrow is a basement-hosted, structurally controlled, and hydrothermally altered mineralized system located within the Patterson Lake conductor corridor. The Patterson corridor constitutes a series of at least three parallel northeast-trending electromagnetic (EM) conductors. The Arrow zone was discovered on the first drill hole testing a coincident gravity low and disrupted EM conductor. The Patterson corridor has uranium mineralization confirmed by drilling along an approximate 14 km strike length, of which 9 km is encompassed by NexGen’s Rook I property.

The geological sequence of sedimentary strata overlying the Precambrian basement rocks is comprised of: Quaternary glacial tills, Cretaceous sediments of the Colorado and Mannville groups, Devonian sediments of the La Loche Formation, and Helikian-aged Athabasca quartz arenite sandstone of the Manitou Falls “A” member.

The basement metamorphic assemblages at Rook I belong to the East Taltson Domain (ex-East Lloyd Domain). At Arrow, basement lithologies have been wrenched by a northwest crosscutting structure, which has resulted in foliations with dips ranging from -75° southeast to -75° northwest. The basement rocks hosting mineralization at Arrow are comprised of a major package of silicified and garnetiferous semipelitic gneiss and granofels that surround relatively narrow graphitic mylonites and lesser cataclasites. A complex group of intercalated semipelitic gneiss, granitic gneiss, pegmatite, gabbro and mafics are observed close to the southeast edge of known mineralization.

The main uranium-controlling structures at Arrow are a series of stacked, sub-vertical graphitic shears (A1 to A4 shears) that show evidence for multiple episodes of ductile and brittle reactivation. Mylonites at Arrow are observed as cohesive, with strong foliation, ribbon structures, and rotated clasts with pressure shadows. Uranium mineralization has been precipitated within the graphitic shears or on either side of these structures within splay offsets to the main structures.

Brick red hematite alteration is often intimately associated with uranium mineralization as part of chemical solution fronts or associated with massive to semi-massive uraninite. Relict garnets altered to dominantly Fe-chlorite forms a widespread distal halo, which transitions to Mg-chlorite proximal and within uranium mineralization. Hydraulic breccias with a dravite matrix are common along late structures that occasionally contain remobilized uranium mineralization.

Mineralization styles at Arrow include finely disseminated, flecks, blebs, fracture face linings, worm rock, chemical solution fronts, and massive to semi-massive veins and pods.

The closest analogy to the Arrow zone is Cameco’s Eagle Point Mine, where conventional underground mining is ongoing. The world-class high-grade uranium intercepts over broad intervals within competent basement rocks that characterize Arrow have validated the southwest Athabasca uranium district.

1 NexGen Energy Ltd., 2450 – 650 W Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 4N9


Technical Session 2: Geology and Mineral Deposits of the Reindeer Zone


La Ronge ‘Horseshoe’ Project: Advancing Our Understanding of the Reindeer Zone

Ralf O. Maxeiner 1, Ryan M. Morelli 1, Nicole M. Rayner 2, and Robert A. Creaser 3

Abstract Our understanding of the geological processes that led to the formation of the Reindeer Zone of the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen is continually evolving. For the last 40 years many geologists in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have worked on identifying and reconstructing its lithological framework, thermotectonic history, and metallogeny. Increasingly since the 1980s the focus has been on characterizing the tectonic environments in which the various lithotectonic components of the Reindeer Zone have formed. With this increased knowledge has come a better understanding of the evolution of the rocks through time, from rifting at 2.1 Ga, the first arc volcanoplutonic constituents at around 1.91 Ga, through various accretionary and collisional phases to the final tectonic assembly and emplacement of post-tectonic plutons between 1.81 Ga and 1.76 Ga.

Agreed upon by most, is that the Manikewan Ocean opened at circa 2.075 Ga via rifting of the Hearne craton from another craton or cratons. First indication of ocean closure is documented at circa 1.91 Ga, believed by some to be via intra-oceanic subduction only, whereas others have proposed a continental arc along the Hearne craton margin. By circa 1.87 Ga, intra-oceanic subduction and accretionary processes had led to formation of the Flin Flon–Glennie complex, a collage of 1.91 to 1.87 Ga volcanic, sedimentary and arc plutonic rocks, situated in the Manikewan Ocean. Debate exists whether the La Ronge volcanic rocks were part of this complex or had already been accreted to the Hearne craton. Identification and timing of emplacement of the Lawrence Point supra-subduction zone ophiolite at the base of the La Ronge volcanic rocks suggests that it was part of the complex. Recognition of Neoarchean to Siderian crust (Sask craton) within several tectonic windows in the Reindeer Zone was instrumental in developing the story of an early (circa 1.84 Ga) orogenic event involving the Sask craton and Flin Flon–Glennie complex. Uplift of the Flin Flon–Glennie complex caused erosion and sedimentation, ultimately leading to the formation of relatively thick 1.85 to 1.83 Ga sedimentary successions containing both deeper water (e.g., ‘Burntwood group’) and shallow water (e.g., ‘Missi-McLennan-Ourom groups’) components. Widespread emplacement of 1.87 to 1.83 Ga felsic to mafic plutons is generally attributed to ‘successor-arc’ processes.

The La Ronge Horseshoe project, by generating detailed geological maps as well as producing new datasets containing U-Pb geochronological, Sm-Nd isotopic and geochemical results, has been able to advance our understanding of the evolution of the Trans-Hudson Orogen. Identification of isotopically evolved, highly strained crust, juxtaposed against the western extent of rocks belonging to the Flin Flon–Glennie complex may suggest the presence of a paleosuture. Recognition of an isotopically variable suite of 1.848 to 1.837 Ga arc plutonic rocks with local Neoarchean inheritance could be interpreted as the root of a forearc emplaced along the western edge (present day) of the Flin Flon–Glennie complex. Reinterpretation of the circa 1.85 to 1.84 Ga expanded McLennan Group (Mullock Lake assemblage) as a forearc, as opposed to a molasse, may be significant in the context of paleotectonic reconstructions. All of these features are important in focusing future exploration for volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits, mafic intrusion hosted Cu-Ni-(PGE) deposits, porphyry copper-gold deposits and orogenic gold deposits.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8 2 Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E8 3 University of Alberta, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, 126ESB, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3


Structural-Stratigraphic Transitions and their Implications for Base Metal Mineralization in the Brabant Lake Area of the

Reindeer Zone

Ryan M. Morelli 1, Yinghui Zhang 2, and Ryan D. Bachynski 3

Abstract Bedrock mapping was done at 1:20,000 scale in the Brabant Lake area in 2015, allowing for an updated interpretation of structural-stratigraphic relationships in the area. The 2015 map area, as a whole, is underlain by clastic sedimentary rocks with subordinate volcanic interlayers and, on the western and eastern margins, boundary zones of plutonic complexes. Sedimentary rocks in the west are dominated by migmatitic psammite-psammopelite, including feldspathic, ferruginous and calcic varieties, as well as minor monomictic conglomerate and intermediate to mafic volcanic and plutonic rocks. Regionally these rocks are thought to collectively correlate with the ca. 1840 Ma Mullock Lake assemblage. The central-eastern Brabant Lake area is, in contrast, dominantly underlain by a monotonous sequence of migmatitic psammopelitic-pelitic rocks, which are currently undesignated but might correlate with (i) the (?)1860 to 1840 Ma Hebden Lake assemblage, (ii) the >1870 Ma Levesque Bay assemblage, or (iii) the ca. 1870 Ma Duck Lake assemblage. A zone dominated by migmatitic psammopelite-psammite with minor pelitic interlayers and relatively continuous layers of mafic volcanic and calc-silicate rocks transects eastern Brabant Bay and is transitional in lithologic character between the other two assemblages. This structural-stratigraphic zone, currently of undefined affiliation, is of economic interest because it contains several base metal showings that have an apparent genetic association with spatially-associated mafic volcanic and calc-silicate rocks. The largest known of these is the Brabant-McKenzie deposit, the characteristics of which suggest origination as a volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit. A strong thermotectonic overprint, including multiple deformation events and upper amphibolite to (?)lower granulite facies metamorphism, affects all rocks in the area with the exception of late leucocratic melt injections. This structural-metamorphic overprint has also affected VMS mineralization in the area, including the Brabant-McKenzie deposit, thus complicating interpretation of original mineralization features.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8 2 Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Institute of Geology, Beijing, China 100037 3 University of Regina, Department of Geology, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2


Bigstone: A High Grade VMS Deposit in the Western Flin Flon–Glennie Complex

Roger B. March 1,2 and Dave B. Fleming 2

Abstract Bigstone is a high grade Cu-Zn-Au-Ag volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit, located 85 kilometres southwest of Flin Flon, Manitoba. The project area is within the Glennie Domain of the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen in east-central Saskatchewan. The Glennie Domain represents the underexplored western limit of the Flin Flon–Glennie complex, which is host to 29 present and past-producing VMS deposits and one of the most significant Cu-Zn-Au-Ag mining districts in the world. The Bigstone deposit occurs under Phanerozoic cover within amphibolite facies volcano-plutonic rocks of the Northern Lights assemblage (NLA), one of two northerly trending tectonostratigraphic assemblages. The adjacent Hanson Lake assemblage (HLA) is host to Foran’s McIlvenna Bay Zn-Cu-Au-Ag deposit, located 25 kilometres east of Bigstone. McIlvenna Bay is one of the largest VMS deposits in the Flin Flon–Glennie complex, with a mineral resource of 13.9 million tonnes indicated and 11.3 million tonnes inferred*. Geochemical and lithological similarities between the NLA and the western HLA suggest a possible continuum of volcano-plutonic sequences west to east from primitive arc tholeiites at Bigstone to evolved and rift-related at McIlvenna Bay.

The Bigstone deposit was discovered in 1982 through drill-testing airborne EM anomalies derived from a 1963 INPUT survey. The deposit database is comprised of 50 drill holes and 26 wedges for approximately 24,000 metres in the period 1982-1997. Bigstone has a non 43-101–compliant resource estimate (from previous owners Cameco in 1990) of 1.98 MT (2% Cu cut-off) grading 2.57% Cu, 0.17% Zn, 0.48 g/t Au and 11.3 g/t Ag for the Main Zone, and 0.53 MT (5% Zn cut-off) grading 9.62% Zn, 0.24% Cu, 0.34 g/t Au and 15.9 g/t Ag for the Zinc Zone**. Foran’s 2015 program was successful in complementing this data by drilling 2,545 metres in six HQ holes. Initial results from a 535 kilogram metallurgical test sample suggest favourable Cu and Zn recoveries. An unrecognized Zn stringer-style component to the Main Zone and length-weighted SG measurements roughly 10% higher than historic suggest potential for expanding the resource.

Economic sulphide mineralization at Bigstone is hosted within intensely altered and metamorphosed andesite to dacite tuffs with footwall quartz +/- feldspar porphyries and hangingwall rhyolite tuffs and graphitic argillite. Stratigraphy is north-northeast trending, west facing and upright to steeply west dipping. The principal sulphide body at Bigstone is the Main Zone, occurring as a vertical to steeply south-plunging, flattened cylinder up to 60 metres thick with a strike length of 150 metres and drill tested from 100 to 700 metres below surface. Metallic minerals are coarse disseminated to semi-massive and locally vein styles of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, magnetite and lesser pyrite, arsenopyrite and sphalerite. Alteration is transitional from silica-sericite to an assemblage of chloritoid-chlorite-garnet-magnetite. Metal zoning from Cu to Zn is evident outwards from the core of the Main Zone. Main Zone Cu is stratigraphically overlain and overlapped to the south by a sheet of high-grade Zn-rich massive sulphide up to 10 metres thick measuring roughly 200 by 400 metres. Preliminary genetic interpretations are subseafloor replacement-style Main Zone sulphide overlain by Zn-rich massive sulphide capped by siliceous and graphitic sediments.

*For additional information see the Foran news release dated March 27, 2013, at www.foranmining.com. **Foran is not treating the Bigstone historic estimate as current; a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 has not completed sufficient work to classify the historic estimate as current; additional work would be required to verify and upgrade the historic estimate to current.

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

http://www.foranmining.com/


An Overview of the Geological, Geochemical, and Geophysical Results from the Kettle Falls Gold Project: Vectors to Newly

Discovered Gold Mineralization along the Tabbernor Lake Fault

Michelle A. McKeough 1 and Jarrod A. Brown 1

Abstract The Kettle Falls property is located 25 km southeast of the Seabee gold mine, in an area that has remarkably received very little exploration work to date. The property is underlain by metamorphosed volcanic, gabbroic, and epiclastic units of the Glennie Domain and transected by the north-trending Tabbernor Lake fault – a major crustal structure transecting the Trans Hudson Orogen. Splays of the Tabbernor Lake fault system, 25 km north of Kettle Falls, contain shear-hosted quartz-tourmaline-pyrite-pyrrhotite-gold mineralized veins, which typify the ore-hosting structures at the Seabee mine. In light of the structural setting and style of mineralization in relation to this structure, the predominant model used to drive exploration at Kettle Falls is a mesothermal orogenic gold deposit model.

Topographic lineament analysis and geological mapping, combined with historical airborne magnetic survey data, were useful in identifying prospective structures and fracture systems in the Kettle Falls area. The geological interpretations show the property has a dominant north-northeast–trending foliation, and brittle northwest-trending cross-structures. Quartz veining is ubiquitous on the property, most commonly found as vein arrays and locally sheeted veins conformable to the dominant north-northeast–trending foliation and less common along the west-northwest cross-structures. Geological follow-up to these prospective structures led to the discovery of the “Fisher” showing, a sub-vertical, north-northeast–trending altered shear zone hosted in the metavolcanic rocks. The alteration sequence visible over the exposed showing consists of biotite-chlorite+/-carbonate (outer zone) to muscovite-sericite-silica+/-garnet (intermediate zone) to sericite-silica-pyrite+/-pyrrhotite (mineralized zone). The gold results are very encouraging; initial grab samples from the Fisher showing in 2013 returned up to 9190 ppb Au. Channel sampling at the showing in 2014 returned an overall average of 1395 ppb Au over 8.0 m, including 1964 ppb Au over 2 m and 2054 ppb Au over 1.5 m. The best half metre sample result was 13,261 ppb Au. Silver and copper are also anomalous, with results up to 2226 ppb Ag and 308 ppm Cu.

Re-evaluating the structural interpretations using new 2015 geological mapping and ground magnetic and VLF-EM data locates the Fisher showing along the eastern limb of a sub-kilometric-scale fold structure. Furthermore, geochemical results over a one square kilometre soil grid has defined a prospective mineralization corridor within the fold structure that is anomalous in Au, Ag, and Cu, with moderate associations of Mo, Pb, and Zn. Of significant interest from an exploration stand-point is that Au-in-soil anomalies at the southwest limit of the grid are up to ten times higher than anomalous gold and silver results from the Fisher showing area. The geochemical anomalies and associated magnetic trends remain open along strike to the southwest and northeast. The significant alteration associated with shearing and quartz veining, combined with encouraging Au, Ag, and Cu rock and soil results over a 600 m strike-length, indicate that there was significant fluid flow with promising vectors to gold mineralization on the Kettle Falls property.

1 Terralogic Exploration Inc., Suite 200, 44-12th Ave. S, Cranbrook, BC V1C 2R7


Geochemistry of the Supracrustal Assemblages of the Pine Lake Greenstone Belt, Seabee Mine Area: Preliminary Results and

Lithostratigraphic Implications

Devon Stuebing 1 and Dr. Kathryn Bethune 1

Abstract Owned and operated by Claude Resources Inc., the Seabee Gold Operation has produced over 1,000,000 oz of gold since its inauguration in 1991. This area represents a number of distinct past- and presently-producing mesothermal-style gold mines (Seabee, Santoy Gap, Santoy 8, Santoy 7, Porky Main and Porky West) hosted in the Pine Lake greenstone belt of the Glennie Domain in the Saskatchewan segment of the Reindeer Zone. The Pine Lake greenstone belt, as well as the Flin Flon belt, is one of many deformed, elongate and arcuate belts of supracrustal rocks thought to have originally formed during the closure of the Manikewan Ocean in response to Trans-Hudson orogenesis.

Previous work in the Pine Lake greenstone belt has identified at least three or four regional deformation episodes, as well as three main supracrustal assemblages termed “Assemblage A”, “Assemblage B” and the “Porky Lake group” of which assemblages “A” and “B” have historically been viewed as broadly correlative with the Amisk and Missi groups (respectively) of the Flin Flon belt. Currently, the two stratigraphically lower assemblages, “A” and “B”, are subdivided largely based on lithological and field relationships: Assemblage A consists of mafic to intermediate volcanic, volcaniclastic and subvolcanic intrusive rocks, which are unconformably overlain by the primarily volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks of Assemblage B. A major stratigraphic unconformity at the base of Assemblage B is marked by the occurrence of the Pine Lake conglomerate, which is thought to have a close proximal relationship to gold mineralization in the belt. The third lithological group, the Porky Lake group, stratigraphically and structurally overlies the other two main assemblages with a shift to dominantly arkosic psammitic sediments, indicative of another major unconformity.

In order to better understand the relationships within the Pine Lake greenstone belt as well as to facilitate more accurate comparison between this belt and other greenstone belts from elsewhere in the Reindeer Zone, a property-wide geochemical and lithostratigraphic study of the Seabee Mine area was undertaken. Preliminary geochemical results offer a new perspective on the volcanic rocks of the Pine Lake greenstone belt as well as a potential mechanism for distinguishing those of Assemblage A from Assemblage B, something that has both property-scale and regional implications.

1 University of Regina, Department of Geology, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK S4S 0A2


Profitable Mining at Seabee Allows for Renewed Emphasis on Exploration

Anders Carlson 1 and Brian Skanderbeg 1

Abstract Since Q2 of 2014, Claude Resources has generated free cash flow as a result of accelerated development of new high-grade deposits, the application of new mining methods and a streamlined business plan that reflects Claude’s core values. The company is now distinguishing itself from its peers through its ability to increase production and lower all-in sustaining costs to levels deemed unachievable by the marketplace just a few short years ago. In addition to achieving these technical gains, Claude’s environmental and safety performance has been equally impressive, as the small Saskatchewan-based gold producer continues to reinvent itself and attract the attention of new and existing investors alike.

With the cornerstones of Claude’s operational plan in check, the company has focused its sights on three major goals: debt reduction, upgrading infrastructure and exploration. After drilling over 100,000 metres from surface in 2011-2012, exploration at Seabee was drastically reduced to less than 10,000 metres between 2013-2015. In 2016, Claude will return to a more aggressive exploration strategy, combining surface and underground programs aimed at testing peripheral targets to existing deposits with more than 60,000 metres of drilling at the Santoy Mine Complex. The company will also be testing new regional greenfield targets across the property while remaining committed to exploratory drilling from surface and underground at the flagship Seabee Mine.

1 Claude Resources Inc., 200 - 219 Robin Crescent, Saskatoon, SK S7L 6M8


Technical Session 3: Exploration Overviews and Tantato Domain Geoscience


Overview of Mining and Mineral Exploration and Development Activity in Saskatchewan for 2015

Gary Delaney 1 and the Saskatchewan Geological Survey Staff

Abstract In 2014, Saskatchewan remained the world’s leading potash producer and the second largest producer of primary uranium. The province also produced coal, gold, base metals, salt, sodium and potassium sulphate, and clay products. Thanks in large part to record potash sales, provincial mineral sales for 2014 were $7.3 billion (B) compared to $7.1 B in 2013, and $7.4 B in 2012. In 2014, $216 million (M) was spent on mineral exploration and evaluation projects and it is estimated that $238 M will be spent in 2015. The bulk of expenditures continue to be focused on uranium and potash projects, although there has been a resurgence in spending on diamond exploration. Some exploration was also undertaken on gold and base metal projects.

In 2014, Saskatchewan’s three potash miners produced a combined 16.8 M tonnes KCl with sales valued at over $5.7 B. Saskatchewan’s mining companies continue to have confidence in the long-term fundamentals of the potash industry as they press ahead with upgrades and expansions at the existing facilities at an estimated collective cost of $13.5 B. In addition to the ten existing mining operations, K+S Potash Canada GP (K+S Canada) is in the midst of constructing the province’s first new potash mine in over 40 years. A number of other potash projects, ranging from early exploration to advanced development, continued to advance over the past year.

Saskatchewan produced 23.64 M lb U3O8 in 2014, accounting for just over 16% of global primary uranium production. Production for 2015 is forecast to be in the range of 29.5 to 31.5 M lb U3O8. Uranium exploration spending is forecast to remain robust in 2015, with projected expenditures around $136 M, mainly on projects in the Key Lake to McArthur River corridor in the east part of the Athabasca Basin and near Patterson Lake in the southwest margin of the basin.

All gold production was from Claude Resources Inc.’s Seabee mining operation, where record annual production of 62,984 oz was achieved in 2014. The operation produced 57,408 oz through the first three quarters of 2015 and the company provided gold production guidance of between 70,000 and 75,000 ounces for the entire year. In addition to gold, some base-metal exploration and development projects are continuing to be advanced in west-central Saskatchewan, including Foran Mining Corp.’s McIlvenna Bay deposit and Murchison Mineral’s Brabant zinc project.

The Star–Orion South kimberlite project remains the most advanced diamond play in Saskatchewan. In follow-up to a recent large-diameter drilling program on the Orion South kimberlite, operator Shore Gold Inc. has announced a significant increase in the estimated Mineral Resources for the project. The Indicated Mineral Resource on Star has increased 38% to 28.2 million carats and the grade has increased 11% to 15 carats per hundred tonnes (cpht). The Indicated Mineral Resource on Orion South has increased 134% to 27.1 million carats and grade has increased 1% to 14 cpht. North Arrow Minerals Inc. discovered three new kimberlites on its Pikoo project, increasing the number of discreet kimberlite occurrences within the property to seven. A number of other juniors have started grassroots exploration programs in the area.

As of October 31, 2015, active mineral dispositions, issued pursuant to The Mineral Tenure Registry Regulations, totalled about 7.8 M hectares (ha). In addition, there were 163 active potash dispositions, issued pursuant to The Subsurface Mineral Tenure Regulations, comprising permits and leases, totalling about 4.4 M ha. Since 2012, the amount of land disposed for mineral exploration and development has increased from 5.5 M ha to 7.8 M ha.



Exploration – It’s Our Future

Andrew Cheatle 1

Abstract The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) is the national voice of Canada’s mineral exploration and development industry. With a membership of over 8,000, the PDAC’s mission is to promote a responsible, vibrant and sustainable Canadian mineral exploration and development sector. The PDAC encourages leading practices in technical, environmental, safety and social performance in Canada and internationally. PDAC is known worldwide for its annual PDAC Convention, regarded as the premier event for mineral industry professionals.

Without exploration there can be no discoveries, without discoveries there can be no new deposits, and without new deposits there will be no new mines. A robust mineral exploration sector is vital to the success of Canada’s mineral industry. This is an industry that:

• is a key contributor to Canada’s economy, accounting for $54 billion, or almost 4% of Canada’s GDP, in 2014;

• employed over 400,000 workers across Canada in 2014, in minerals and metals, in remote communities as well as large cities;

• is supported by over 3,000 service and supply companies in Canada;

• has paid over $70 billion in taxes and royalties to federal and provincial governments over the past decade;

• is a world leader in mineral exploration, with an estimated 800 junior exploration companies active in more than 100 countries;

• in the city of Toronto, has a global mining finance hub, with 44% of global mining equity finance raised on the TMX from 2009-2013; and

• is the largest private sector employer of Aboriginal Canadians.

In order to sustain the economic benefits generated by the minerals industry, Canada needs to find new deposits and move those discoveries into production, both at home and abroad. Yet these are challenging times for the minerals industry; commodity prices are low, venture capital is scarce and exploration activity is significantly reduced. PDAC is working to address issues faced by our members and industry as a whole: easier access to capital, tax reforms, regulator reforms, extension of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit and promoting development of infrastructure in our remote regions.

1 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, 135 King Street East, Toronto, ON M6C 1G6


Bedrock Mapping in the Tantato Domain: Comments on Ni-Cu Mineralization and Protracted Deformation along the Northern

Margin of the Athabasca Basin

Bernadette Knox 1 and Jaida Lamming 2

Abstract The south Tantato Domain, Rae Province is a granulite to eclogite facies terrane that is dominated by mylonitized garnetiferous granitic orthogneiss, Mary granite, Rea Granite, granodiorite, psammopelitic gneiss, garnet-bearing anatectic granite, and mafic granulite. The earliest fabric preserved in the region is a composite S1/S2 foliation that strikes broadly easterly and ranges from shallowly to steeply dipping. The mafic granulite, which locally preserves eclogite-facies metamorphism, is intrusive into all other units and crosscuts the earliest structures (D1). All of the units contain D2 stretching and intersection lineations that plunge shallowly to moderately to the west-southwest and east-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 resulted in open to close F4 folds with moderately to steeply dipping, northeast- or southwest-striking axial planes. Late leucogranite dykes may postdate F4 folding, but have been locally mylonitized.

The mafic granulites make up a large part of the southern Tantato Domain, particularly in the southeast, but are found throughout the mapped area. Nickel-copper mineralization is known across the Tanato Domain, with the most significant concentrations known from the deposit at Axis Lake. As many of the dykes intrude metasedimentary rocks, there is a high potential for magmatic Ni-Cu deposits here and to the north along the trend of the Snowbird tectonic zone.

The current study area also sits just to the north of the present-day extent of the Athabasca Basin sandstones. As a result of mapping of the basement rocks, a large variability in ductile and late brittle strain has been noted. A variation in the strength and character of strain has revealed multiple previously unrecognized zones with protracted deformation, including reactivation under brittle conditions. Regions along these zones have extensive brecciation, formation of cataclasite, and faulting, and can be extrapolated under the Athabasca Basin where they may act as fluid conduits for uranium-rich fluids.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8 2 University of British Columbia, Okanagan, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7


A Region with a Complicated Past – New Monazite Ages from the Tantato Domain

Jaida Lamming 1, Bernadette Knox 2, Kyle Larson 1, John Cottle 3, and Janelle McAtamney 3

Abstract The south Tantato Domain, Rae Province is dominated by mylonitized garnetiferous granitic orthogneiss, Mary granite, Rea Granite, granodiorite, psammopelitic gneiss, garnet-bearing anatectic granite, and mafic granulite. The earliest fabric preserved in the region is a composite S1/S2 foliation that strikes broadly easterly and ranges from shallowly to steeply dipping. The mafic granulite, which locally preserves eclogite-facies metamorphism, is intrusive into all other units and crosscuts the earliest structures (D1). All of the units contain D2 stretching and intersection lineations that plunge shallowly to moderately to the west-southwest and east-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 resulted in open to close F4 folds with moderately to steeply dipping, northeast- or southwest-striking axial planes. Late leucogranite dykes may postdate F4 folding, but have been locally mylonitized.

Monazite grains within a psammopelitic gneiss, sampled adjacent to Axis Lake, have been raster age-mapped using LA-MC-ICP MS at a spot size of 8 μm. Approximately 500 data points outline a range of 206Pb/207Pb ages from 2.738 Ga to 1.905 Ga. A monazite grain armoured in garnet yields 2.605 Ga ages exclusively. The matrix monazite population records the full range of ages. The distinct metamorphic monazite ages may reflect thermal events linked with the multiple deformation episodes observed during field mapping.

The geochronologic data indicate a maximum age of deposition of ca. 2.605 to 2.602 Ga for the psammopelitic gneiss. This data is followed by a spread of dates encompassing a wide range of ages between 2.602 Ga to 1.905 Ga. High-grade metamorphic episodes in the Rae Province have been previously recognized at ~ 2.5 Ga and ~ 1.9 Ga. The ages from this study also record other distinct tectonic events that affected the southern Rae Province and have not been previously recognized in the Tantato Domain. Ages between 2.474 and 2.292 Ga may represent the Arrowsmith orogeny, while a significant spread of ages from 2.096 to 1.936 Ga may reflect the earliest phases of the Taltson orogeny. Going forward, this study hopes to place these age data into P-T context, and to elucidate the complex tectonometamorphic history of the Tantato Domain that is observed from the map scale to the microscopic scale.

1 University of British Columbia, Okanagan, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7 2 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8 3 University of California, Department of Earth Science, Santa Barbara, CA, USA 93106 – 9630


Geology of the Axis Lake East Zone Ni-Cu Deposit

Charles Normand 1

Abstract The mineralization in the Axis Lake East Zone Ni-Cu deposit was reported by Pure Nickel Inc. to be continuous for 2.5 to 3 kilometres in strike length. Previous work has shown that the mineralization is hosted by a 1.5 to 6 metre thick, gossanous, sulphide-rich layer hosted by olivine-free, garnet-bearing, and intermediate to high pressure, granulite-facies metamorphosed noritic rocks. Interpretations of the nature of the mineralization have varied over the years from fault-hosted to orthomagmatic. Evidence for sulphide liquid immiscibility is reported to have been preserved locally in the mineralization.

Bedrock geology and surface mineralization was mapped in detail in a 1.8 km by 0.9 km area centred on this deposit during 2014 and 2015. Results indicate that layered norites of magmatic origin form a major proportion of the rocks in the footwall of the mineralization. Homogeneous layers of variably strained noritic rocks of different composition and grain size predominate in the hangingwall. In this case, the more leucocratic varieties were commonly observed crosscutting the more melanocratic varieties. The mineralization can be subdivided into two principal facies based on crosscutting types of breccia: 1) early mineralization comprised of blebby masses, net-textures, and breccia, and 2) coarse, feldspar-rich breccia. In the first type, the breccia contains randomly distributed, variably sized angular to rounded elements of foliated silicate rock measuring between 1 and 15 cm in diameter. The second type of breccia is characterized by the presence of angular fragments of silicate rock and wraps the first type to form ovoid segments. The presence in type 1 breccia of ovoid fragments of silicate rock that show the same deformation fabric as that in the wallrock suggests that this breccia does not solely represent primary magmatic features. The feldspar-rich type 2 breccia is interpreted to be coeval with spatially widespread post-layering, crosscutting and folded anorthositic veins, impregnations and reaction zones in norites. The contacts of the mineralized layer with the host norites are generally undulating and sharp. Where undisturbed by trenching activity, an abrupt contrast in colour between grey or white norite and rusty mineralization is observed. The contacts strike 095 and dip 64° to the south, similar to the magmatic layering in the footwall norites. The strike of the main foliation in the host rocks is similar but steeper (75°). These structural relationships concur with a magmatic origin for the Ni-Cu mineralization.

It has been suggested by Williams and Hanmer (2006) that the timing for emplacement of the mafic rocks was coincident with its deformation at elevated pressures and temperatures (0.8 to 1.2 GPa, ~750°C). If correct, this would imply that mineralization may have been emplaced at depths in excess of 30 km in the Rae crust. Significant shortening and stretching of the mineralized layer may have accompanied deformation, which would explain their unusually long tabular shape and emplacement under stress. In summary, all of these results are consistent with a magmatic, deep-seated origin for the mafic rocks and related Ni-Cu mineralization.

Williams. M.L. and Hanmer, S. (2006): Structural and metamorphic processes in the lower crust: evidence from the East Athabasca mylonite triangle, Canada, a deep-crustal isobarically cooled terrane; in Evolution and Differentiation of the Continental Crust, Brown, M. and Rushmer, T. (eds.), Cambridge University Press, p. 231-267.



Spectral, Multispectral, Hyperspectral: What Works, What Could Work, and What Will Not Work

Anna Fonseca 1

Abstract Across the Earth sciences, spectroscopy is the main tool for identifying and characterizing the composition of minerals, rocks, glasses, liquids, and gases. Infrared spectroscopy is one amongst many spectral methods that were developed in a non-geological discipline, adapted to planetary exploration, and subsequently adopted by exploration geologists as a powerful tool to identify and map alteration zones associated with hydrothermal mineral deposits.

Satellite-borne remote sensing infrared spectral systems include multispectral and hyperspectral sensors that measure surface reflectance and involve minimal to null ground penetration. Therefore, they have limited applicability in areas that are covered by vegetation, lakes, glacial till, or other unconsolidated deposits. Satellite-borne systems are also subject to illumination effects that limit their applicability in northerly latitudes, and to atmospheric effects that mask the central portion of their spectra.

Hyperspectral field-portable infrared spectrometers are mainstream in drilling programs, where they are used to obtain rapid, routine identification of the most frequently encountered alteration minerals. Less commonly, infrared spectroscopy data is used to define clay and sericite compositional zones that are indicative of specific hydrothermal fluid acidities and temperatures, allowing for the indirect identification of structural corridors that channeled high temperature hydrothermal fluids, as well as of redox boundaries.

Recent advances in infrared spectroscopy have resulted in the development of portable instruments that operate in higher wavelength ranges than those currently utilized in mineral exploration. These instruments allow for the identification and, in some cases, for the compositional characterization of many primary and alteration silicate mineral species.

Unconventional uses of infrared spectroscopy techniques applicable to mineral exploration include remote sensing mapping of modified vegetation reflectance patterns produced in areas of anomalous metal content, and laboratory-based mineral and major oxide quantification through multivariate calibration methods using whole rock geochemistry.

Potential infrared spectroscopy applications that warrant further research include the identification of radioactive damage in minerals through the use of crystallinity indices obtained from portable hyperspectral instruments, and in vegetation through the use of remote sensing techniques, and the quantification of silicification and de-silicification.

1 SRK Consulting (Canada), 151 Yonge Street, Suite #1300, Toronto, ON M5C 2W7


A Capacitive Line Antenna for the Reduction of Near Surface Noise in Magnetotellurics Data

David Goldak 1 and Ryan Olson 1

Abstract Magnetotellurics (MT) involves the measurement of naturally occurring oscillations in the Earth’s magnetic field and the corresponding electric field fluctuations induced within the conducting Earth, the size of which are determined by local Earth resistivity.

The electric field is normally estimated by the difference between point measurements of voltage, usually with porous pot electrodes on the order of 50 to 100 m apart. However, the point measurements of voltage are susceptible to being influenced by near surface oddities that may, just by bad luck, happen to be near the location of the porous pot electrodes. These near surface inhomogeneities collect electrical charge on their peripheries, which can amplify (or diminish) the voltage measured at that point. This causes an artificial “shift” (up or down) of the apparent resistivity curve, which is arguably the largest source of uncertainty in 3D MT inversion. This shift can be mostly frequency independent, hence the term “static shift”.

Many remedies have been developed to remove static shift distortion from MT data, but none to our knowledge have focused on the electric field measurement itself.

We have developed a capacitive line antenna which returns a potential that is integrated (averaged) down the entire length of each antenna leg. It is expected that this volume-averaged measurement of the electric field will be less affected by near surface geologic noise due to the averaging process, in effect, the sum of infinitely many potentials down each antenna leg.

Coupled with 3D inversion, as long as the antenna length is larger than our smallest skin depth, 3D bodies near or at our smallest skin depth can be recognized and properly modeled in 3D.

A further benefit of the capacitive antenna is the correction of contact resistance distortion of the high-frequency apparent resistivity/phase curves. With porous pot electrodes, contact resistance works together with line capacitance to form a low-pass filter. When the contact resistance is large enough, the corner frequency of this unwanted filter can occur in the measurement bandwidth. This is a distortion, which, if not corrected for, renders the high-frequency apparent resistivity and phase data essentially useless.

For northern Saskatchewan, it is quite common to see this effect with a corner frequency in the range of several kHz. Since the capacitive line antenna is non contacting, distortion-free apparent resistivity/phase curves are obtainable right up to our highest measurement frequency of 31.5 kHz (40 kHz to come).

This allows for maximal use of our high-frequency impedance data and therefore maximal fidelity in the upper 300 m or so for northern Saskatchewan inverted models.

Lastly, the capacitive line antenna permits effective operations on frozen ground, rocky ground, and frozen lake surface, where traditional MT measurements are very difficult or even impossible.

1 EMpulse Geophysics Ltd., P.O. Box 968, Dalmeny, SK S0K 1E0


Magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE Mineralization in Canada

C.M. Lesher 1 and Michel G. Houlé 1,2

Abstract Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization in Canada is associated with a wide range of ages, parental magma compositions, geologic settings, host unit geometries, and tectonic settings. Ages range from Late Archean (e.g., Alexo, Dumont, Eagle’s Nest) through Early Proterozoic (e.g., Expo Ungava, Mequillon, Raglan, Thompson) to Triassic (e.g., Wellgreen), Jurassic (Turnagain), and Cretaceous (e.g., Giant Mascot). Parental magma compositions include high-Mg komatiite (e.g., Alexo, Dumont) through low-Mg komatiite (e.g., Thompson), komatiitic basalt (e.g., Expo Ungava, Mequillon, Raglan), picrite (e.g., Voisey’s Bay, Turnagain, Wellgreen) to quartz diorite (Sudbury). Geological settings range from melt sheets (Sudbury) through volcanic (e.g., Alexo, Langmuir, Raglan) and subvolcanic (e.g., Dumont, Eagle’s Nest, Expo Ungava, Mequillon, Sothman, Thompson, Wellgreen) to plutonic (e.g., Giant Mascot, Turnagain). Most deposits are localized in dynamic systems, including lava channels (e.g., Raglan), channelized sheet flows (e.g., Alexo), channelized sills (e.g., Sothman, Thompson), and feeder dikes (e.g., Eagle’s Nest, Mequillon, Voisey’s Bay). However, the Giant Mascot and Turnagain systems occur in composite plutons/intrusions that do not appear to be flow-through systems. Tectonic settings include a wide variety of environments from divergent to convergent settings, where the most important deposits occur in rift-related tectonic settings. Divergent settings include continental rifts (e.g., Alexo, Sothman) and rifted continental margins (e.g., Raglan, Thompson). Convergent settings include supra-subduction regimes, post-orogenic settings, or short-lived extensional events within orogenic settings. Archean high-Mg komatiitic magmas had much lower viscosities and were emplaced under more dynamic conditions that allowed crustal sulphide xenomelts to equilibrate with larger amounts of magmas, but had access to smaller amounts of crustal S, resulting in higher tenors but lower tonnages. Proterozoic komatiitic basaltic and picritic magmas typically had access to larger amounts of crustal S, but had higher viscosities and were emplaced under less dynamic conditions that allowed crustal sulphide xenomelts to equilibrate with smaller amounts of magma, resulting in higher tonnages but lower ore tenors. Phanerozoic deposits were less dynamic and/or had access to smaller amounts of crustal S, often resulting in lower abundances of sulphide and lower ore tenors. Most sulphides have variable and non-magmatic S isotope compositions and/or S/Se ratios, and appear to have been derived by incorporation of crustal sulphides via melting rather than assimilation. The mode of emplacement of the sulphide xenomelts is still being debated, but in most cases they appear to have been generated at the same stratigraphic level and less commonly transported upwards (less likely) or downwards (more likely).

1 Mineral Exploration Research Centre, Department of Earth Sciences, Goodman School of Mines, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6

2 Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, QC G1K 9A9


Technical Session 4: Potash and Diamonds


An Update about the Current State of the K+S Legacy Project

Megan Frederick 1

Abstract K+S Potash Canada is part of K+S Group, one of the world’s leading suppliers of fertilizers and the world’s leading salt producer, with over a century of mining experience. K+S for the last 4 years has been building the Legacy Project potash mine and production facility near Moose Jaw with scheduled start of commissioning in summer of 2016.

Construction at K+S Potash Canada’s (KSPC) $4.1 billion Legacy Project in southern Saskatchewan is over 50% completed. Beyond the mine site, workers with heavy equipment are moving massive amounts of earth in preparation for a new rail line that will transport potash from the Legacy Project mine site to the world. And at Port Moody in British Columbia, construction has begun on the world’s most modern potash handling facility at Pacific Coast Terminals’ (PCT) bulk handling operation, where Legacy potash will be stored and loaded onto ships bound for K+S Group’s international clients.

Currently at the Legacy Project there are about 2,000 people, including KSPC’s operations team, who are working daily on site and that number will swell to about 2,400 when the construction program peaks later this fall. A myriad of construction work is taking place all at once, which makes for well-orchestrated moves of large equipment. Eleven of fourteen mammoth processing vessels delivered by special trucking units or assembled on site now reside in their appropriate spots in the plant. The remaining three will soon be in place.

Earth-leveling work is underway for KSPC’s 14 km rail line with loop at the plant and 5 km of spur line, and Canadian Pacific (CP)’s approximately 19 km of rail and spur line infrastructure that will connect the mine to CP’s existing trackage at Belle Plaine, Saskatchewan. And at PCT’s bulk handling facility in Port Moody, construction is underway on a railcar unloading building and potash storage warehouse, as well as on upgrades to the water treatment facilities and ship-loading equipment. All work is scheduled for completion next year.

In the wellfield several kilometres east of the plant, wellpads No. 4 and No. 5 have been “handed over’’ to operations for initiation of cavern development processes. The 18 caverns beneath wellpads No. 2 and No. 3, where early cavern development began in March, will supply the initial feed to the processing plant when the mine goes into production. The Legacy Project is expected to reach 2.0 million tonnes of production capacity by the end of 2017.

1 K + S Potash Canada GP, 220 Wall Street, Saskatoon, SK S7K 3Y3


New Advances in the Analysis of Potash by State of the Art QEMSCAN Instrument

Lucy Hunt 1 and Steven Creighton 1

Abstract New developments in potash analysis at the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) has focused on providing fast, effective and reliable analysis of potash beyond the basic whole-rock bulk composition. Our research has focused on using QEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by SCANning electron microscopy) to provide quantitative modal mineralogy, grain size distribution, mineral associations and liberation characteristics of both soluble and insoluble minerals.

QEMSCAN analyses for uranium, gold and base metal samples are typically conducted on crushed mineral separates, thin sections, and core samples. Potash presents two major challenges for successful analysis: coarse grain size and water solubility. The large range of grain size, microns to centimetres, in potash is a significant challenge for obtaining representative samples for analysis. For the coarsest minerals, a few large grains can be mounted in a single 30 mm diameter block mount and 25 to 30 mounts need to be prepared to obtain a representative number of grains. In order to overcome this, we have developed a method for homogenising coarsely crushed potash and mounting 35 times the number of grains as a 30 mm block. Usually two such mounts are suitable for a reliable and statistical analysis. The high solubility of salt and potash means that traditional, water-based polishing methods cannot be used for sample preparation. Ethylene glycol and oil-based coolants are unsuitable for samples that contain clays in the insoluble fraction. To prepare the samples with the submicron perfection required for QEMSCAN analysis, a specialized, proprietary, oil-free, anhydrous polishing technique was established. This sample preparation method has been adapted for use with 30 mm blocks, SRC large blocks, and short core samples (up to 12 cm long).

The output of the QEMSCAN analysis provides a clear window into the complex mineral relationships in potash. The generated mineral-coded colour images of the core can also be overlain onto a digital image, to assist with visual identification of minerals and textures for correlation to core logging. The modal mineralogy of both the soluble and insoluble fractions can be determined in situ, and their intergrowth relationships understood. It is possible to see whether insolubles/clays form around mineral edges, as inclusions within larger potash or salt crystals, as discrete pockets throughout the rock, or as veins crosscutting the larger minerals. Given that clay content and type has a major impact on mineral flotation, this information is vital for optimizing processing methods.

QEMSCAN analysis also provides grain size distribution, mineral associations of touching grains, and potash liberation characteristics. These data help cut costs associated with comminution and reduces the time needed in the development of processing methods. Having this information from core samples allows for earlier incorporation into the exploration and resource development cycle and may help with target prioritization. Regular cross checks throughout mine life can ensure that any changes in the ore, such as grain size and mineralogy, especially clay minerals, are understood and the processing is adapted accordingly. This maximizes recovery, minimizes down-time and allows the company to be proactive in its ore processing and extraction.

1 Saskatchewan Research Council, 125-15 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2X8


Complications of Drift Prospecting in a Paleo-glaciolacustrine Environment, Northern Saskatchewan

Michelle A. Hanson 1

Abstract Drift prospecting has long been used in northern Saskatchewan to trace glacially transported mineralized sediment back to its source. The varying complexity and thickness of glacial sediments, however, makes drift prospecting not necessarily straightforward. Subglacially deposited till is an ideal medium for sampling; it is a first-derivative sediment, with a relatively short transport distance, deposited directly down-ice from its source. Glaciolacustrine sediments, comparatively, are at least a second-derivative sediment, commonly comprising multiple phases of erosion and transportation, with a potentially very large transport distance from the original bedrock source. Glaciolacustrine sediments commonly overlie till and glaciolacustrine processes commonly erode or rework till, making drift prospecting more complex.

Paleo-glaciolacustrine environments are common on the Canadian Shield. In Saskatchewan, glacial Lake Athabasca occupied a similar, but larger, area to the current Lake Athabasca but was up to at least ~100 m deeper. On the southeastern part of the Canadian Shield in Saskatchewan, various stages of glacial Lake Agassiz covered large areas.

Identifying the extent of influence of a paleo-glaciolacustrine environment is key to forming a drift prospecting strategy. Characteristic landforms include raised beaches and berms, as well as subaqueous fans and deltas. Sediments range from rhythmic fine-grained, well-sorted, deep-water silts and clays to graded and bedded coarse sands and gravels to subaqueously deposited diamictons, such as iceberg dumps or debris flows in nearshore or grounding-line environments. Many of these landforms and sediments are easy to identify; however, because of textural and structural similarities between till and other diamictons, the identification of till becomes difficult when samples are collected without context from shallow holes.

Where a thick cover of glaciolacustrine sediments obscures the underlying till, drift prospecting can be challenging. In these areas, useful sampling sites may still be found on topographic highs where glaciolacustrine sediment cover is thinner, or at the base of exposed sections along lake shores, stream banks, or road cuts. Where glaciolacustrine sediments are thinner, forming a veneer or discontinuous cover over previously deposited sediments, access to till becomes easier once the veneer is removed. Wave processes within the lake, however, can erode till, leaving behind boulder-cobble lags, winnowed till with very little fine grains that are appropriate for geochemical analysis, and/or exposed outcrops. In these scenarios, till can commonly be found in depressions or down-ice of outcrop ridges where sediment was thicker.



Is There an Archean Lithospheric Mantle Root Beneath the Sask Craton, Canada? Constraints from Peridotite Xenoliths in the

Fort à la Corne Kimberlite Field

Janina Czas 1, D. Graham Pearson 1, Thomas Stachel 1, George H. Read 2, and Bruce A. Kjarsgaard 3

Abstract Peridotite xenoliths from kimberlites at Fort à la Corne (FALC) present a unique opportunity to study the lithospheric mantle beneath the Sask Craton. Archean (2.4 to 3.2 Ga) crustal ages have previously been reported for the craton. Little is known about this craton, yet it hosts a major diamond deposit within the Fort à la Corne kimberlite field. Establishing the age of the lithospheric mantle beneath this newly recognised craton is essential to constraining its origin and evolution. From a diamond perspective it is also important a) to understand whether the cratonic crust is underpinned by an Archean mantle and b) to constrain the possible influence of the Trans-Hudson orogeny (THO; 1.79 to 1.91 Ga), representing the collision of the Superior and the Hearne-Rae provinces. Re-Os isotope systematics and platinum group element (PGE) concentrations have been obtained for olivine separates of 24 lherzolite xenoliths from two volcanic centres (Orion South and Star) in the FALC kimberlite field. The Os isotopic compositions vary significantly, yielding TRD model ages ranging from 0.3 to 2.4 Ga (mode at 1.8 to 2.0 Ga) that provide minimum estimates for the timing of melt depletion. Mean Fo values (Fo90.3-91.9) of olivines from the lherzolites constrain the fraction of melt extracted to be 20 to 25%. Such moderately high levels of melt depletion would almost quantitatively remove Re (Re/Os l=0.0005 to 0.00001) and hence TRD ages should approximate the actual ages of melt depletion. On this basis, there are no Archean ages recorded in the Os isotope composition of the Sask Craton lithospheric mantle. The mode of Re depletion ages at 1.8 to 2.2 Ga, with the oldest TRD ages at 2.4 Ga, provides a strong indication that the majority of the lithospheric mantle was depleted and stabilised significantly later than the Archean crust. Hence, the evolution of the Sask Craton may have been similar to the Siberian Craton, where the bulk of the lithospheric mantle seems to have been constructed during craton amalgamation in the Paleoproterozoic (1.8 to 2.0 Ga).

1 University of Alberta, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, 1-001 CCIS, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9 2 Shore Gold Inc., 300-224 4th Avenue South, Saskatoon, SK S7K 5M5 3 Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E8


Star–Orion South Diamond Project: Revised Resource Estimate

George Read 1, Mark Shimell 1, Bill van Breugel 1, and Brian Desgagnes 1

Abstract The Star–Orion South Diamond Project is located in central Saskatchewan some 60 kilometres east of the city of Prince Albert. The Project is in close proximity to established infrastructure, including paved highways and the electrical power grid, which provide significant advantages for future mine development. The Technical Report on the Feasibility Study and Updated Mineral Reserve for the Star–Orion South Diamond Project dated July 14, 2011 provided an updated Mineral Reserve estimate for the Star and Orion South kimberlite deposits: Probable Mineral Reserves of 279 million tonnes containing 34.4 million carats of diamonds that can be profitably mined over 20 years. In addition to the Mineral Reserve estimate, the Star and Orion South kimberlites have been estimated to include Inferred Resources containing 15.7 million carats.

The Project includes a four-year construction period followed by the excavation of two open-pit mines and processing of approximately 45,000 tonnes of kimberlite rock per day over a projected 20-year period. Shore Gold’s plans for decommissioning include progressive reclamation activities beginning within five years from the start of construction and will continue beyond the operations phase of the Project.

Evaluation of the Orion South kimberlite was curtailed in early 2009 due to the world financial crisis and consequently a significant proportion of Orion South ended up in the Inferred category for the Resource Estimate. It was strongly believed that limited additional work on Orion South could enable these Inferred Resources to be upgraded to the Indicated category. In late 2014, Shore Gold Inc. successfully raised money to conduct a Revised Mineral Resource estimate on the Star–Orion South Diamond Project. This work program commenced with core drilling in late March and large diameter drilling (LDD) in early May. The core was logged by Shore geologists and the LDD samples were processed for diamonds at Rio Tinto Canada Diamond Exploration Inc.’s Thunder Bay Mineral Processing Laboratory (ISO 9001: 2008 Certified). Core logging data from the 2015 program were incorporated in the geological model and a rigorous reconciliation of LDD diamond grade results and geology was completed. This work enabled the construction of improved geological models for both Star and Orion South. These improved geological models were used as the basis for the Revised Resource Estimate, which was underway at the time of going to press.

1 Shore Gold Inc., 300-224 4th Avenue South, Saskatoon, SK S7K 5M5


Update on 2014 and 2015 Exploration at the Pikoo Diamond Project

Ken Armstrong 1

Abstract The Pikoo Diamond Project is located in the northern Sask Craton, approximately 140 kilometres east of La Ronge and 10 kilometres from the community of Deschambault Lake. Iterative till sampling programs, geophysics and drilling led to the 2013 discovery of the first kimberlites in this area. During 2014, follow-up till sampling programs identified additional kimberlite indicator mineral trains within the project. Ground geophysical surveys and exploration drilling during the winter of 2015 led to several kimberlite discoveries. As of December 2015, seven discrete kimberlite occurrences have been discovered within the property. Four of these kimberlites (PK150, PK314, PK311 and PK312) have been tested for diamonds, and all have proven to be diamondiferous. PK150 remains the most significant discovery to date. A total of 531 kg of drill core from PK150 has been tested for diamonds using caustic fusion, with the recovery of 1,232 diamonds greater than the 0.106 mm sieve class, including 32 diamonds greater than the 0.85 mm sieve class. Microdiamond data from PK150 are suggestive of a relatively coarse diamond distribution. The exploration history of the project will be reviewed, including a description of the kimberlite occurrences and lessons learned that may guide future discovery.

1 North Arrow Minerals Inc., Suite 960-789 West Pender Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1H2


Abstracts for Other Saskatchewan Geological Survey Geoscience Investigations


Age and Isotopic Results from the La Ronge Horseshoe Project: Age of the Black Bear Island Lake Inlier and Provenance of Sedimentary

Assemblages in the Western Reindeer Zone

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

Abstract As part of the Saskatchewan government’s La Ronge Horseshoe project, three new U-Pb zircon results and seven Sm-Nd analyses have been obtained for the southwestern Reindeer Zone of the Trans-Hudson Orogen.

A gneissic augen syenogranite from the Black Bear Island Lake inlier in the southern Rottenstone Domain has yielded a U-Pb zircon SHRIMP age of 2518 ±6 Ma and has an εNd value (t=2500 Ma) of +0.4. Similar augen syenogranitic rocks, exposed in the Birch Rapids Lake area at the eastern margin of the Rottenstone Domain and interpreted to be of Archean parentage, have TDM ages of 2.57 Ga and 2.78 Ga, and εNd values (t=2500 Ma) of +3.9 and +1.4.

Mylonitic porphyroclastic gneiss of inferred sedimentary parentage, exposed in the sheared margin of the Nistowiak Lake tectonic window in the central Glennie Domain, has 207Pb/206Pb zircon ages ranging from 2586 Ma to 1818 Ma. Only six grains are older than 1900 Ma. The ages from the majority of the zircon grains have a bimodal distribution, with a dominant peak at ca. 1860 Ma and a subordinate peak at ca. 1820 Ma. The provenance profile is interpreted to reflect dominantly 1.86 Ga detritus with a minor contribution of 2.6 to 2.3 Ga material and a metamorphic overprint at 1.82 Ga. A second sample of porphyroclastic psammite from a one-metre-thick layer in an outcrop of diatexitic pelite was collected at another site on Nistowiak Lake. It yielded a TDM age of 3.07 Ga and an evolved εNd (t=1900 Ma) result of -9.9. The disparity between the U-Pb geochronological ages and Sm-Nd isotopic results of these two samples—which were originally interpreted to have been collected in different members of the same unit—resulted in assigning the isotopically evolved unit to an older, possibly Archean sedimentary assemblage.

A pebble conglomerate exposed east of Hebden Lake in the western Kisseynew Domain has 207Pb/206Pb ages ranging from 1934 Ma to 1760 Ma, with a unimodal peak at 1870 Ma. Replicate analyses to find the youngest detrital zircon gave one age of 1849 ±12 Ma and another with a weighted mean 207Pb/206Pb age of 1897 ±12 Ma, suggesting that there may be both ca. 1850 and 1900 Ma components to the detritus. This range of 207Pb/206Pb ages of detrital zircon is identical within error to the detrital zircon population of a boulder conglomerate of the <1848 Ma Mullock Lake assemblage.

Additional εNd(t) isotopic results from the Mullock Lake assemblage (western Kisseynew Domain), Rachkewich Lake pluton (western Glennie Domain) and the Birch Rapids assemblage (western Rottenstone Domain) have helped to differentiate and characterize the various lithotectonic assemblages. The sedimentary assemblages of the western Reindeer Zone can be divided into three broad groups based on their ages and isotopic compositions. The first group includes isotopically evolved rocks of the ca. 1.87 to 1.85 Ga Sturdy Island and Birch Rapids assemblages of the southern Rottenstone Domain and possibly some of the Nistowiak Lake gneisses in the mylonitic envelope around one of the Archean inliers of the central Glennie Domain. The second group includes the >1.85 Ga Crew Lake and Hebden Lake assemblages, which are somewhat less isotopically evolved and contain Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic detritus. The third group is made up of the 1.85 to 1.84 Ga Mullock Lake assemblage, which is dominated by relatively juvenile, ca. 1.89 and 1.85 Ga detritus, and lacks older zircon.

The 1848 to 1837 Ma Rachkewich Lake pluton has slightly juvenile to evolved εNd values (+2.6 to -3.5; t=1900 Ma), which is consistent with having been emplaced in a forearc setting, at the edge of an emerging Flin Flon–Glennie complex that also contained isotopically evolved, possibly Archean components at the time of emplacement.

1 Saskatchewan Ministry of the Economy, Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 1000-2103 11th Avenue, Regina, SK S4P 3Z8 2 Natural Resources Canada, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E8 3 University of Alberta, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, 126ESB, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3

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