Fluid-Structural Controls on Geochemical Expressions of Unconformity-Related Uranium Deposits of the Athabasca Basin, Canada

Significant to the Canadian economy, unconformity-related U deposits remain prime exploration targets given their potential for large tonnage, high-grade ore. As geological settings hosting the ore diversify and exploration shifts to greater depths, a variety of new exploration methods is required to allow for efficient target identification and successful discovery of these buried ore deposits. Recent studies under the fourth iteration of the Geological Survey of Canada Targeted Geoscience Initiative Program (TGI-4) have refined key mineralogical and geochemical signatures reflecting ore-forming processes and remobilization that can be identified and modelled over the entire fluid pathway through fertile fault systems, including post mineralization dispersal of metals and gases into shallow sandstone and surficial environments. Primary hydro thermal processes related to ore production were focussed along key structural corridors, with the hydrothermal cells likely extending several kilometres along strike but only a few kilometres laterally. Such constraints are critical when considering the potential extents of the ore deposit footprints in exploration.