EPR study of radiation-induced defects in quartz at the Arrow showing, northern Saskatchewan

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This application is intended to establish a new partnership between the University of Saskatchewan and the NexGen Energy Ltd (Vancouver) to conduct collaborative research on radiation-induced defects in quartz at the Arrow showing, a recent discovery of high-grade uranium mineralization in the south-western part of the Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan. Uranium mineralization in the south-western Athabasca Basin is hosted almost exclusively in basement lithologies, different from its eastern counterpart in close proximity to the sandstone-basement unconformity. Because of this geological difference, exploration techniques developed from the eastern Athabasca Basin may not be directly applicable to the search for new uranium deposits in the south-western part of the basin. The proposed collaborative research is initiated to investigate radiation-induced defects in quartz of basement lithologies at the Arrow showing, by use of cathodoluminescence (CL) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Results from the proposed research will be compared with available data from quartz in sandstones from the eastern Athabasca Basin, where some silicon-vacancy hole centres have been shown to be related to alpha particles emitted from uranium and thorium and are useful for detecting and tracing uranium-bearing fluid flows. The proposed research is anticipated to develop the EPR technique for the search of uranium mineralization in the south-western Athabasca Basin.