Application of natural radiation damage in quartz to exploration for uranium deposits in the Athabasca basin

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The uranium deposits in the Athabasca basin, northern Saskatchewan, produce approximately 30% of the global annual output of this strategic material and are hosted by quartz-rich rocks. A previous NSERC-CRD-sponsored research project utilized cathodoluminescene (CL) imaging to demonstrate that quartz grains along the sandstone-basement unconformity, lithological boundaries and faults at the high-grade Cigar Lake and McArthur River deposits are characterized by the presence of alpha-particle-damaged patches and continuous rims. The occurrence and distribution of these characteristic radiation-damage-induced CL in quartz were shown to be a useful paragenetic tool for exploration of uranium deposits in the Athabasca basin. However, CL imaging was generally unable to detect the characteristic radiation damage in quartz from the Key Lake deposit, which is "loud and clear" on electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra. Therefore, EPR, an extremely sensitive technique in detecting dilute paramagnetic defects, is potentially more widely applicable in the Athabasca basin than CL imaging. Accordingly, this application is for support of collaborative research between the University of Saskatchewan and the Denison Mines Corporation to take advantage of the superior sensitivity of the EPR technique to further develop natural radiation damage in quartz as a new tool for exploration of uranium deposits in the Athabasca basin. The proposed project includes not only applied research on EPR characterization of natural radiation-induced defects in quartz to define and trace paleo-pathways of uranium-bearing fluids at selected exploration properties in the Athabasca basin but also developmental work on the calibration of radiation damage in quartz for calculating radiation doses of uranium-bearing fluids and fundamental research on the discovery of new radiation-induced defects in quartz. In particular, the proposed research is expected to advance our state-of-the-art knowledge on radiation damage in quartz. Also, this project provides excellent training opportunities for one postdoctoral fellow, one PhD student and three undergraduate students at the University of Saskatchewan.