BRiSkET - Brine Resources in Saskatchewan: Exploration Tools

锂是清洁能源技术的重要金属，尤其是用于电子产品、电动汽车和可再生能源存储的电池。因此，预计未来几年锂的需求将呈指数级增长。然而，传统的锂采矿作业预计无法满足这一需求，而目前的采矿实践既具有挑战性，又对环境有害。为了应对这种情况，在加拿大西部沉积盆地的地下水中开始寻找新的、可持续的锂资源，并引起了几家小型矿业公司的兴趣。虽然初步工作表明，锂富集发生在加拿大西部的地下盐水中，但缺乏一个能够预测锂富集的框架，这对未来的勘探项目构成了障碍。为了解决这一缺乏预测框架的问题，该项目将与EMP金属公司合作，利用地球化学示踪剂（稳定同位素、主要离子化学、稀土元素模式），结合公开可用的井数据，开发一种方法来识别地下盐水可能富含锂的区域。这将通过整合地球化学数据、地质元数据和利用机器学习方法来实现。虽然研究重点是位于萨斯喀彻温省南部的加拿大西部沉积盆地的一部分，但研究结果有望帮助指导整个加拿大西部和其他大型沉积盆地的地下卤水锂勘探。

Lithium is an essential metal for clean energy technologies, especially batteries used in electronics, electric vehicles, and renewable energy storage. As such, demand for lithium is projected to grow exponentially over the next several years. However, traditional lithium mining operations are not expected to be able to fill this demand, and current mining practices are both challenging and environmentally damaging. In response to this, the search for novel and sustainable lithium sources has begun to focus on subsurface waters within the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and drawn the interest of several junior mining companies. While preliminary work has shown that lithium enrichments occur in subsurface brines in western Canada, lacking is a framework that would allow for the prediction of lithium enrichments, which presents an obstacle to future exploration projects. To address this lack of a predictive framework, this project, in partnership with EMP Metals Corp., will utilize geochemical tracers (stable isotopes, major ion chemistry, rare earth element patterns), in combination with publicly available well data to develop a method for identifying areas where subsurface brines may be enriched in lithium. This will be accomplished by integrating geochemical data, along with geological metadata and utilizing machine learning approaches. While focused on the portion of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin that lies within southern Saskatchewan, results promise to help guide exploration for lithium in subsurface brines throughout western Canada and in other large sedimentary basins.