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

萨斯喀彻温省北部阿萨巴斯卡盆地的铀矿床产出了这种战略物资全球年产量的约30%，赋存于富含石英的岩石中。NSERC-CRD以前的一项研究项目利用阴极发光(CL)成像技术证明，在高品位雪茄湖和麦克阿瑟河矿床中，沿砂岩-基底不整合、岩性边界和断层的石英颗粒具有α颗粒损伤斑块和连续边缘的存在特征。这些具有辐射损伤特征的CL在石英中的赋存和分布为阿萨巴斯卡盆地铀矿床的勘查提供了有用的共生工具。然而，CL成像一般无法检测到Key Lake矿床中石英的特征辐射损伤，这在电子顺磁共振(EPR)谱上是“响亮而清晰的”。因此，EPR是一种非常灵敏的检测稀疏顺磁缺陷的技术，在阿萨巴斯卡盆地中可能比CL成像更广泛地应用。因此，这项申请是为了支持萨斯喀彻温省大学和丹尼森矿业公司之间的合作研究，以利用EPR技术的优越敏感性，进一步开发石英中的天然辐射损害，作为勘探阿萨巴斯卡盆地铀矿的新工具。拟议的项目不仅包括在阿萨巴斯卡盆地选定的勘探性质下开展石英中天然辐射缺陷的EPR表征的应用研究，以确定和追踪含铀流体的古路径，而且还包括为计算含铀流体的辐射剂量而校准石英中的辐射损伤的发展工作，以及发现新的石英中的辐射诱导缺陷的基础研究。特别是，拟议的研究有望促进我们对石英辐射损伤的最先进知识。此外，该项目还为萨斯喀彻温省大学的一名博士后研究员、一名博士生和三名本科生提供了极好的培训机会。

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.