Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2018-2019)

Climate change awareness has resulted in a heightened focus on efficient resource recovery and lower environmental footprint. The public is demanding greater corporate social responsibility. Provincial and federal regulatory agencies are aware of the benefits associated with scientific research and technology development, because improved resource extraction techniques can offer companies effective and less costly methods for complying with the regulations associated with resource extraction.

For a mineral deposit to form, several processes must occur at the appropriate time: (1) there must be a suitable source rock that is already endowed in the element(s) relative to average crustal abundances; (2) a fluid of appropriate chemistry that can transport the metals in solution must interact with these source rocks to remove the elements of interest; and (3) there needs to be a trap that will destabilize the metal-ligand complexes and precipitate the metals either in native form (e.g., Au) or in minerals.

The main conduits for fluid movement in the Earth’s crust are faults and fractures. Fluid movement through these features generally requires a change in pressure or stress, or a source of heat, and produce large and sometimes diagnostic alteration mineral envelopes. Redox-sensitive elements such as Fe and U and pH-sensitive elements such as B and Li may show significant changes in concentration across the redox and pH interface. However, significant changes in concentration may occur in narrow envelopes near the ore-zone or may be similar to barren systems. Isotopes, on the other hand, can provide information on the processes that distribute and concentrate metals in natural systems.

The utility of using the fractionation of traditional light stable isotopes (e.g., H, O) and Pb as tracers of fluid-solid interactions, geothermometers, mass transport and contaminants is well-established, and radiogenic isotopes (e.g., U-Pb) are useful chronometers of fluid events. However, the use of non-traditional light isotopes such as B and Li, and transition- (e.g., Zn) and other heavy-metal isotopes (e.g., U), is in its infancy.

In this grant cycle, I propose to train 10 BSc, 11 MSc, and 6 PhD students. These students will gain valuable laboratory and field experience, and will be an integral part of developing novel strategies for sustainable resource extraction in Canada’s northern regions, including the Arctic. I hypothesize that by combing multiple isotopic systems with synchrotron techniques we can identify the source of metals and fluids, and differentiate between barren and mineralized structures. With these data we will be able to develop more effective exploration strategies, thus minimizing the impact on the environment. I plan to focus on U deposits with a range of ages and Pb-Zn deposits in the USA and China. I will use these deposits to study the source of metals, pathways and traps.