Element Distribution Patterns and Mineral Discoveries using Biogeochemical Methods

Element Distribution Patterns and Mineral Discoveries using Biogeochemical Methods 

Colin Dunn Robert Thompson Robert Anderson , Alain Plouffe  

Keywords Biogeochemistry, Exploration, Uranium, Base Metals, Molybdenum 

Information from surveys conducted decades ago can now be viewed in light of subsequent exploration activities, and the value of biogeochemical surveys (when and where to use the techniques) can be more accurately assessed and applied using the rapidly-advancing analytical methodologies (e.g. ICP-MS) that are now widely available. 

More than 30 years ago it became apparent that sandstones of the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan are host to significant deposits of uranium. Previous work elsewhere, primarily in the Colorado Plateau (Cannon 1964) and the former Soviet Union (Kovalevsky 1972), had shown that plants are capable of accumulating high concentrations of U. Surveys near the eastern margin of the Athabasca Group revealed an area of 

---