Claudia Foggett, BSc
C. Foggett1, N. Banerjee1, W. Bain1, D. Goudie2, G. Gudmundson3
1Department of Earth Sciences, Western University, London, ON, Canada
2CREATIT Network, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada
3CanAlaska Uranium Ltd., Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Unconformity-related uranium (U) deposits are among the most economically significant uranium resources globally due to their exceptionally high grades, substantial tonnages, and critical importance for the nuclear energy sector. These deposits form through complex interactions between oxidized basinal fluids, reduced basement lithologies, structural conduits, and complex hydrothermal systems. Improving our understanding of the geological, mineralogical, and geochemical processes responsible for uranium mobility and deposition is essential for refining exploration models. The Athabasca Basin hosts some of the world's highest-grade examples of this deposit type. As global demand for uranium increases, so will the need for targeted research that can help refine genetic models for this deposit type and aid the industry in identifying and characterizing new deposits in the Athabasca Basin. Of key importance is the identification of alteration styles and mineralogical vectors that can be used as pathfinders to high-grade uranium mineralization on the deposit scale. This project focuses on the Pike Zone of CanAlaska Uranium’s West McArthur project and aims to characterize the composition and paragenesis of U-bearing mineralization via detailed analysis of thin sections and hand samples. The methods used for this project build on previous field-based data collection and integrate conventional petrography with quantitative Mineral Liberation Analysis (MLA), Electron Probe Microanalyzer (EPMA), and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF). This multi-method approach is designed to produce high-resolution mineralogical and geochemical data sets, together with well-constrained paragenetic sequences, that will support targeted exploration in the West McArthur project. These data sets will also provide new insights into the formation and evolution of unconformity-related uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin and elsewhere. This will help refine our general understanding of how uranium is transported and concentrated in natural systems and how mineral assemblages formed during these processes can be used as pathfinders for exploration.