Industrial Mineral Potential of Alberta Formation Waters

An electronic data base of nearly 130,000 analyses of formation waters from Alberta and adjacent areas was searched for elements of potential economic interest. For regional exploration, the elements and threshold values were: Ca (20,000 mg/l), Mg (3,000 mg/l), K (5,000 mg/l), Li (50 mg/l), Br (1,000 mg/l) and I (40 mg/l). Using a variety of culling procedures, element concentration maps, and maps of posted values of individual analyses, areas were identified where these elements exceeded their respective detailed exploration threshold values: Ca (60,000 mg/l), Mg (9,000 mg/l), K (10,000 mg/l), U (75 mg/l), Br (3,000 mg/l) and I (100 mg/l). Aquifers and areas identified as justifying further resource evaluation are: 1.Lower Elk Point in northern Alberta associated with the Cold Lake and Lotsberg salts, for Ca, Mg, K and Br; 2.Beaverhill Lake in southern Alberta, for Ca, Mg, K and Br; 3.a high-Li trend associated with the Devonian Windfall-Swan Hills carbonate complexes; and 4.parts of the Viking and Belly River of central and southern Alberta, for I.