Mineral Resources of Northwest-Central Alberta

A deposit containing about 2.6 million tons of gypsum is present in the Rocky Mountains about 60 miles west of Grande Cache. The gypsum content is between 75 and 80 per cent.

This report describes the potential mineral resources of northwest-central Alberta, an area that extends from Hinton near the eastern boundary of Jasper National Park to the Grande Prairie-Peace River districts in the north. Emphasis is given to that part of the area, which is traversed by the Alberta Resources Railway.

Information on the bedrock geology of the Foothills region is mainly from reports published by the Geological Survey of Canada (Greiner, 1955; Irish, 1965) and from unpublished maps supplied by the same agency. Most of the bedrock geology and coal resources data for the Plains area were obtained from helicopter surveys conducted by the Research Council's geology Division in 1969 and 1970. This material is supplemented by information in reports by Allan and Carr (1946) and Govett (1961), and by unpublished data on gypsum and coal resources in Research Council files.

Information on oil and gas fields is compiled from maps and other material published by the Energy Resources Conservation Board in Calgary.