The past four decades have seen an unprecedented development of metal exploration techniques because as exposed and easily exploitable mineral deposits have been used up, exploration geologists have been forced to find new ways of looking deeper into the crust.
Sampling glacially transported boulders is effective for mapping subcrop clay alteration patterns associated with deeply-buried unconformity-type uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The technique works well because the subcrop alteration haloes show significant geochemical contrast with background, because the glacial deposits are consistently distributed and rich in boulders, and the altered boulders are typically well-represented in the boulder population. Boulder sampling is preferred over some other techniques because it is rapid and inexpensive, and the use of a lithological sampling medium provides a direct measure of subcrop clay-mineralogy, in an area where outcrop exposure is very restricted.A large composite boulder sample data set, comprising c. 20 000 samples from within the eastern part of the Athabasca Basin, has been compiled. Sampling and analytical techniques are described, and results are presented at both regional and semi-regional scales. The distributions show clear correlations with both basin-scale features, such as stratigraphical variation and regional alteration patterns, and with deposit-related features, such as hydrothermal illite, dravite and chlorite alteration. Composite boulder lithogeochemistry may be equally effective for mineral exploration in other glaciated regions with restricted bedrock exposure.
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