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Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Host-Rock Alterations Associated with the Shea Creek Unconformity-Type Uranium Deposits (Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada). Part 2. Regional-Scale Spatial Distribution of the Athabasca Group Sandstone Matrix Minerals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Philippe Kister ,
Emmanuel Laverret ,
David Quirt ,
Michel Cuney ,
Patricia Patrier Mas ,
Daniel Beaufort  and
Patrice Bruneton
Philippe Kister*
Affiliation:
UMR CNRS 7566 G2R-CREGU, UHP, BP 239, 54506 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy Cedex, France
Emmanuel Laverret
Affiliation:
HydrASA, UMR CNRS 6532, Université de Poitiers, 40 av. du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France
David Quirt
Affiliation:
Saskatchewan Research Council, 15 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 2X8, Canada
Michel Cuney
Affiliation:
UMR CNRS 7566 G2R-CREGU, UHP, BP 239, 54506 Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy Cedex, France
Patricia Patrier Mas
Affiliation:
HydrASA, UMR CNRS 6532, Université de Poitiers, 40 av. du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France
Daniel Beaufort
Affiliation:
HydrASA, UMR CNRS 6532, Université de Poitiers, 40 av. du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France
Patrice Bruneton
Affiliation:
COGEMA, Business Unit Mines, 2, rue Paul Dautier, BP 4, 78141 Velizy Cedex, France
*
*E-mail address of corresponding author: pkister@cogema.fr
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Abstract

The spatial distribution of the dominant matrix minerals present in the middle-Proterozoic Athabasca Group sandstone (kaolin, illite, sudoite, dravite, hematite) was studied at a regional scale in the Shea Creek region (Saskatchewan, Canada), in which two epigenetic unconformity-type uranium deposits have been discovered. 3D models of matrix mineral distribution were derived from normative mineral calculations and 3D interpolation using whole-rock geochemical analyses of sandstone samples collected from both mineralized and barren areas. The calculations were constrained by information obtained from petrographic and crystal-chemical clay mineralogical studies on representative samples. The 3D mineral distribution models were compared to the lithostratigraphy and structural features of the Athabasca Group sandstone to ascertain the source and mobility of the main elements involved in the sandstone host-rock alteration processes related to the U mineralization. The distribution of Al is conformable with the lithostratigraphy throughout the studied area, regardless of proximity to basement-rooted structures and U ore bodies. The distribution of illite displays similar features, but the intensity of the illitization of kaolin decreases with increasing distance from the structures and U ore bodies. Hematite bleaching and neoformation of sudoite and dravite were restricted to the vicinity of the fault zones above the U ore bodies. The spatial configurations of the mineral anomalies show that syn-ore fluids flowed from the basement towards the sandstone cover via the fault zones, as described in current metallogenic models. Although Al remained immobile (mass transfer), the anomalous K, B and Mg present in the host-rock alteration haloes were probably imported from the basement rocks (mass transport). Unlike B and Mg, K migrated laterally at least several kilometers from the basement-rooted faults. The mineral distribution models were used to quantify the volume of altered sandstone (10−2−10−1 km3) and the amounts of K, Mg and B which were imported to the alteration haloes above the Shea Creek U ore bodies: 186,000 t of K, 66,000 t of Mg, and 11,000 t of B above the Anne ore body, and 24,000 t of K, 185,000 t of Mg, and a similar 11,000 t of B above the Colette ore body.

Keywords

3D ModelingAthabasca BasinClay MineralsDraviteHost-rock AlterationIlliteKaolinNormative MineralogyUnconformity-type Uranium DepositsSudoite
Type
Research Article
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , June 2006 , pp. 295 - 313
Copyright
Copyright © 2006, The Clay Minerals Society

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