T255 Regional Characterization of Critical Mineral Potential

Wednesday, 18 October 2023
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
324

ALBERTA’S MINERAL MAPPING PROGRAM: PUBLIC GEOSCIENCE TO SUPPORT ALBERTA’S MINERAL STRATEGY

Paper number: T255-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 2:05 PM – 2:20 PM

Authors

Abstract

In November 2021, the Government of Alberta released the Renewing Alberta’s Mineral Future report -- a strategy and action plan for Alberta to better understand, characterize, and capitalize on its untapped mineral potential. The strategy leverages Alberta’s natural geological advantages and details six key areas to support and achieve Alberta’s vision, with the first key area to “increase public geoscience”. This strategy provided the Alberta Geological Survey (AGS) with the unique opportunity to initiate a massive investigation and data acquisition program. The program improved the utility of historical data through compilation and digitization, leveraged modern geophysical and remote sensing technologies to scan huge swathes of the surface and subsurface, ran modern lab analyses on extensive collections of existing public cores and samples, performed significant sample collection and mapping projects in strategic locations across the province, and developed public-facing interactive maps.

This program has led to:

  • the acquisition of one of the largest high-quality regional airborne geophysical surveys worldwide, covering ~511,500 km2,
  • new magnetotelluric data collection and modeling in Alberta’s “kimberlite corridor”,
  • satellite-based multispectral mineral mapping in NE and NW Alberta,
  • hyperspectral scanning of ~51,000 m of core supported by >50,000 spot XRF points,
  • completion of a till and stream sediment sampling program returning >1350 samples,
  • 6900 lithogeochemical analyses,
  • 703 X-ray diffraction analyses,
  • 691 heavy mineral concentrate analyses,
  • 4650 electron microprobe analyses,
  • 4 weeks of field mapping and spectra collection on the Canadian Shield,
  • collection and geochemical analysis of 312 new brine samples from 309 hydrocarbon wells,
  • high-res photogrammetry of Devonian reef margin outcrops in the Rocky Mountains, as analogues to subsurface Li-brine reservoirs,
  • digitization of 304 historical mineral assessment reports.

This presentation will provide an overview of the data acquired thus far, some of the analyses that are underway, and insight into how we are leveraging online interactive platforms to make this new information and data more accessible to stakeholders.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 55, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2023AM-395245

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