Saskatchewan Minerals

Sartonier Company, 160, 246 Saskatchewan Minerals, 150 Sasol Chemical hidustries Ltd, 200 Sasol Ltd., 200 Sasol Mining (Pty) Ltd., 200 Sasol Synthetic Fuels (Pty) Ltd., 200 Saudi Arabian Oil Company, 198... 

Ramaekers, P. 1990. Geology of the Athabasca Group (Helikian) in northern Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Geological Survey, Saskatchewan. Mineral. Resources Technical Report, 1950, 49 p. 

This work was supported in part by the National Research Council of Canada. We are also grateful to Dr. Phillip Rueffel, Technical Manager, Saskatchewan Minerals Company, for supplies of microbial bloom from Durum Lake. 

Sartomer Asia Limited, Unit 1006,11/F., DCH Commercial Centre, 25, WesUands Road Quariy Bay, Hong Kong. Hong Kong (Tel 852 2161-0600 FAX 852 2161-0678 E-mail lntb sartomerasia.com Internet http7/www.sartomer.com.cn) Saskatchewan Minerals Inc. 

Certain minerals, however, such as sylvite, carnallite, langbeinite, and polyhalite are found in ancientlake and sea beds and form rather extensive deposits from which potassium and its salts can readily be obtained. Potash is mined in Germany, New Mexico, California, Utah, and elsewhere. Large deposits of potash, found at a depth of some 3000 ft in Saskatchewan, promise to be important in coming years. 

Uranium is found in most rock, in a concentration of two to four parts per million (ppm). Substantially greater average concentrations can be found in mineral deposits, as high as 10,000 ppm, or 10 percent. Most uranium deposits suitable for mining, however, contain an average of less than 1 percent uranium. Uranium is a metal, and thus its acquisition is not unlike the mining of any other metallic ore. Although uranium is found nearly eveiywhere on the earth, Canada leads the world in uranium production, mostly due to its heavy financial investment m uranium exploration, and to a few sizable deposits in the Saskatchewan territoiy. Table 1 depicts the total world uranium production in 1997. 

Vatanparast H, Baxter-Jones A, Faulkner R, Baile D and Whiting S. 2005. Positive effects of vegetable and fruits consumption and calcium intake on bone mineral accrual in boys during growth from childhood to adolescence the University of Saskatchewan Pediatric Bone Mineral Accrual Study. Am J Clin Nutr 82 700-706. 

Baadsgaard H (1987) Rb-Sr and K-Ca isotope systematics in minerals from Potassium horizons in the Prairie Evaporite Formation, Saskatchewan, Canada. Chem Geol Isotope Geosci Sec 66 1-15 Beckinsale RD, Gale NM (1969) A reappraisal of the decay constants and branching ratio of K. Earth Planet Sci Lett 6 289-294... 

Evaporites are important sources of economic minerals that have been exploited for at least the past 6000y. For example, the evaporite mineral trona (NaHCOj -Na2C03 2H2O) was used by the ancient Egyptians to preserve mummies. Evaporite salts continue to be used for food preservation, construction, road deicing, and in industrial processes. The marine evaporites of Saskatchewan (Canada) are the world s largest source of potash (KCl), which is used as an agricultural fertilizer. In the United States,... 

Earle, S., Wheatley, K., Wasyliuk, K. 1999. Application of reflectance spectroscopy to assessment of alteration mineralogy in the Key Lake area. MlnExpo 96 Symposium -Advances in Saskatchewan geology and mineral exploration. Saskatoon, November 21, 22, 1996, Proceedings, 109-123. 

Farquharson, C.G. Craven, J.A. 2008. Three-dimensional inversion of magneto-telluric data for mineral exploration An example from the McArthur River uranium deposit, Saskatchewan, Canada. Journal of Applied Geophysics, in press. 

FIoeve, J. Quirt, D.FI. 1984. Mineralization and Flost Rock Alteration in Relation to Clay Mineral Diagenesis and Evolution of the Middle- Proterozoic, Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan, Canada. Saskatchewan Research Council, SRC Technical Report 187, 187 p. 

This report concerns the application of Pb isotope geochemistry in the exploration for unconformity-type uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan (Fig. 1). 2006 Pb isotope data from a number of current projects, several with U mineralization, will be discussed (Cigar Lake East, Close Lake, Midwest A, Wolly/McClean Lake, Cree-Zimmer project, and Shea Creek). 

Abstract world class unconformity-related U deposits occur in the Proterozoic McArthur Basin (Northern Territory, Australia) and Athabasca Basin (Saskatchewan, Canada). Widespread pre-to post-ore silicifications in the vicinity of the deposits, allow proper observation of paragenetically well-characterized fluid inclusions. We used a combination of microthermometry, Raman microspectroscopy and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), to establish the physical-chemical characteristics of the main fluids having circulated at the time of U mineralization. The deduced salinities, cation ratios (Na/Ca, Na/Mg) and P-T conditions, led to the detailed characterization of a NaCI-rich brine, a CaCl2-rich brine and a low-salinity fluid, and to the identification of mixing processes that appear to be key factors for U mineralization. 

Kotzer, T.G. Kyser, T.K. 1995. Petrogenesis of the Proterozoic Athabasca Basin, Northern Saskatchewan, Canada, and its relation to diagenesis, hydrothemal uranium mineralization and paleohydrogeology. Chemical Geology, 120, 45-89. 

Fayek, M., Janeczek, J. Ewing, R. C. 1997. Mineral chemistry and oxygen isotopic analyses of uraninite, pitchblende and uranium alteration minerals from the Cigar Lake deposit, Saskatchewan, Canada. Applied Geochemistry, 12,549 - 565. 

The Cigar Lake uranium deposit is located in northern Saskatchewan in the eastern part of the Athabasca basin (Fouques et al. 1986 Bruneton 1987, 1993 Cramer Smellie 1994). Similar to the Gabon ore deposits, the primary mineralization is hosted by a hydrothermally altered sandstone (Athabasca formation), above the contact with an Archean metamorphic basement at a depth of about 430 m (Fig. 2). The ore formation occurred 1360 Ma to 1550 Ma... 

Bruneton, P. 1987. Geology of the Cigar Lake uranium deposit (Saskatchewan, Canada). In Gilboy, C. F. Vigrass, L. W. (eds) Economic Minerals of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Geological Society, Special Publication, Regina, SK, Canada, 8, 99-119,... 

Cumming, G. L. Krstic, D. 1992. The age of unconformity-related uranium mineralization in the Athabasca basin, northern Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 29, 1623-1639. 

Sunder, S., Taylor, P. Cramer, J. J. 1988. XPS and XRD studies of uranium rich minerals from Cigar Lake, Saskatchewan. Materials Research Society Symposia Proceedings, 112, 465-472. 

Canada near Birsay, Saskatchewan till and clay Desorption from mineral surfaces 7.06-9.42 3.2-98 (0.45 pm filtered) Yan, Kerrich and Hendry (2000)... 

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