The Athabasca Basin is a region in the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

of northern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. It is best known as the world's leading source of high-grade

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

and currently supplies about 20% of the world's uranium. The basin is located just to the south of Lake Athabasca, west of Wollaston Lake, and encloses almost all of Cree Lake. It covers about in Saskatchewan and a small portion of Alberta. The surface of the basin consists of main

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

sediment varying from in depth. The uranium ore is mostly found at the base of this sandstone, at the point where it meets the

basement A basement or cellar is one or more Storey, floors of a building that are completely or partly below the storey, ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, ...

. On the northern and eastern edges are the communities of

Fort Chipewyan Fort Chipewyan , commonly referred to as Fort Chip, is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada, within the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo. It is located on the western tip of Lake Athabasca, adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park, app ...

in Alberta and Camsell Portage,

Stony Rapids Stony Rapids ( chp, Deschaghe, translation=settlement on the other side of the Rapids) is a northern hamlet in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located south of the border to the Northwest Territories, the community is astride the Fond du ...

, Fond du Lac, Black Lake and Wollaston Lake in Saskatchewan. Much of the Athabasca Basin is within the migratory range of the Beverly

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

herd a major source of sustenance for the Denesuline communities. Within the basin are the

Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park The Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park was created to protect the Athabasca sand dunes, a unique boreal shield ecosystem located in the far-north Northern Saskatchewan Administration District. The Athabasca sand dunes are the most norther ...

on the south shore of Lake Athabasca and the

Carswell crater Carswell is an impact crater within the Athabasca Basin of the Canadian Shield in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is in diameter and the age is estimated to be 115 ± 10 million years (Lower Cretaceous). The crater is exposed at the surface. ...

. The Cluff Lake mine site is located in the crater area.

Points North Landing Points North Landing is a camp settlement in northeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is 355 kilometres north-east of La Ronge, on Highway 905 and has an airport and a water aerodrome, with almost daily flights provided by West Wind Aviation and ...

, a permanent supply depot and camp, serves the eastern area of the basin. Road access to the area is provided by

Saskatchewan Highway 955 Highway 955 is a provincial highway in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It runs from Highway 155 near La Loche to Cluff Lake Mine. The mine has been closed since the early 2000s and its adjacent airstrip is also closed now, meaning th ...

from the village of La Loche on the west side and

Saskatchewan Highway 914 Highway 914 is a provincial highway in the north-west and far north regions of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It begins at a turn in Highway 165 and officially ends at Key Lake mine. Highway 914 goes north through scenic parts of Sask ...

and Saskatchewan Highway 905 north of the town of

La Ronge La Ronge is a northern town in the boreal forest of central Saskatchewan, Canada. Its location is approximately north of Prince Albert where Highway 2 becomes Highway 102. La Ronge lies on the western shore of Lac la Ronge, is adjacent ...

on the east side.

Uranium mines

Claude Lake near the Cluff Lake uranium mine

Uranium was discovered in the region in the 1940s. The first mine in the area was the Rabbit Lake Mine, which was discovered in 1968 by Gulf Mineral Resources and opened in 1975. The most important current mine is Cameco's McArthur River mine, the world's largest high-grade uranium mine. Other uranium mines in the Athabasca Basin include the

Cigar Lake Mine The Cigar Lake Mine is a large high-grade underground uranium mine, located in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan, Canada, at the south-west corner of Waterbury Lake. The deposit, discovered in 1981, is second in size of ...

, the

Cluff Lake mine Cluff Lake mine is decommissioned former uranium mine located in northern Saskatchewan, located 30 km east of the provincial border with Alberta and approximately 75 kilometres south of Lake Athabasca. The mine and mill were owned and operated by ...

(now closed), the

Key Lake mine The Key Lake mine is a former uranium mine in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is north of Saskatoon by air on the southern rim of the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin. Key Lake was initially developed to open-pit mine two nearby uranium ore deposits: th ...

and the McClean Lake mine. Dikes in the Athabasca Basin are related to the giant Mackenzie dike swarm.Comparisons of the 2005 Geologic Map of North America with the 1965 Map, Areas 1-4

References

External links

Map of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou range

Aerial exploration of the Carswell impact structure and maps of the Athabasca BasinUranium in CanadaOverview of Athabascan Unconformity Uranium deposits
{{Coord, 58.446, N, 108.332, W, display=title Landforms of Saskatchewan Landforms of Alberta Uranium mines in Canada Geology of Saskatchewan Geology of Alberta

Uranium mines

See also

References

External links