Sub-project leaders:
Ghislain Tourigny and Colin Card, Saskatchewan Geological Survey.

The purpose of this sub-project is to better understand the basement geology of the Athabasca Basin and its influence on mineralization. A key component will be detailed studies of the structural history of the basement/cover rocks at some of the major uranium deposits with the objective of attempting to determine the role of structure in the localization of uranium mineralization.

Dielmann open pit at Key Lake

As most of the deposits are buried beneath rocks of the Athabasca Group, open pits such as the Dielmann at Key Lake (above), provide a key three dimensional perspective of the context of the mineralization. The plan map of the Deilmann pit shown below is from a detailed study of the geology and structure last year by Shawn Harvey last year.

This sub-project will entail the following components:

1. Detailed structural studies of open pit excavations of uranium deposits. Plans include mapping of the Sue pit at McClean Lake and compilation of results from a study last year of the Dielmann pit at Key Lake (Harvey, 1999),
2. Update and augment a previous SGS study of sub-Athabasca geology and geochemistry. This will entail compiling new relevant geophysical data and basement core intersections, and
3. Continued geological mapping on the exposed shield north of the western part of the Athabasca Basin. This will provide a geological framework from which to extrapolate southward.

Preliminary Geological map of the Dielman pit

Dielmann legend

2002-2003 Activities and Results

New Investigations of Basement to the Western Athabasca Basin (PDF)