BRiSkET - Brine Resources in Saskatchewan: Exploration Tools

锂是清洁能源技术的必要金属，特别是用于电子产品、电动汽车和可再生能源储存的电池。因此，锂的需求预计将在未来几年呈指数级增长。然而，传统的锂开采业务预计无法满足这一需求，目前的采矿做法既具有挑战性，又对环境造成破坏。作为对此的回应，寻找新颖和可持续的锂资源已开始把重点放在加拿大西部沉积盆地的地下水上，并引起了几家初级采矿公司的兴趣。虽然初步工作表明，锂的浓缩发生在加拿大西部的地下卤水中，但缺乏能够预测锂浓缩的框架，这对未来的勘探项目构成了障碍。为了解决缺乏预测框架的问题，该项目将与EMP Metals Corp.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)，结合公开的钻井数据，开发一种识别地下卤水可能富含锂的地区的方法。这将通过整合地球化学数据以及地质元数据和利用机器学习方法来实现。虽然重点是位于萨斯喀彻温省南部的加拿大西部沉积盆地部分，但这些成果有望帮助指导整个加拿大西部和其他大型沉积盆地地下卤水中锂的勘探。

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.