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Synthetic model testing and distributed acquisition dc resistivity results over an unconformity uranium target from the Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan

Quantec Geoscience, Toronto, Canada

Don Carriere

Carriere Process Management, Mississauga, Canada

Larry Petrie

Denison Mines Corporation (Exploration Division), Saskatoon, Canada

Corresponding author: jlegault{at}quantecgeoscience.com

The dc resistivity method has become a preferred reconnaissance mapping tool for uranium exploration targets in the Athabasca Basin, in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. Regionally, uranium deposits can occur beneath <100 m to >1 km thick sandstone cover rocks, are commonly associated with deeper basement graphitic metasedimentary units and are also often accompanied by clay-alteration zones in the sandstones. As a result, deep-penetrating electromagnetic and electrical geophysical techniques are ideally suited for indirect exploration of these types of deposits. A variety of electrode configurations are being used, however the pole-pole array is currently favoured in the Athabasca Basin due to its high signal levels, its deep penetration and its anomaly resolution. More recently, however, other technologies such as audio-magnetotellurics (AMT/MT) and 24-bit A/D distributed acquisition systems (DAS) have been introduced to extend the depth of exploration below 1 km. In the example presented here, a DAS acquisition system was used to acquire dc resistivity data, using a variety of electrode arrays, to examine the response parameters from the different configurations along a single line located along a known conductive trend at the M-Zone on the Wheeler River property.