The Athabasca Basin is a region in the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or 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), th ...

of northern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

and

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

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

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, 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. Ura ...

and currently supplies about 20% of the world's uranium. The basin is located just to the south of

Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca ( ; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , " herethere are plants one after another") is in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake is ...

, west of

Wollaston Lake Wollaston Lake () is a lake in the north-eastern part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is about north-east of Prince Albert. With a surface area of (excluding islands; if islands are included), it is the largest bifurcation 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 rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

sediment varying from in depth. The

uranium ore Uranium ore deposits are economically recoverable concentrations of uranium within Earth's crust. Uranium is one of the most common Chemical element, elements in Earth's crust, being 40 times more common than silver and 500 times more common than ...

is mostly found at the base of this sandstone, at the point where it meets the

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

. On the northern and eastern edges are the communities of

Fort Chipewyan Fort Chipewyan , commonly referred to as Fort Chip, is an unincorporated hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada, within the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo. History Fort Chipewyan is one of the oldest European settlements in the Provi ...

in Alberta and

Camsell Portage Camsell Portage is a northern settlement of 0 people, located on the north-central shore of Lake Athabasca, Saskatchewan. The northern settlement is an unincorporated community in the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District. Camsell is o ...

, Stony Rapids, Fond du Lac, Black Lake and

in Saskatchewan. Much of the Athabasca Basin is within the migratory range of the Beverly

caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

herd a major source of sustenance for the

Denesuline The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene group of Indigenous Canadian people belonging to the Athabaskan language family, whose ancest ...

communities. Within the basin are the Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park on the south shore of Lake Athabasca and the Carswell crater. The Cluff Lake mine site is located in the crater area. Points North Landing, a permanent supply depot and camp, serves the eastern area of the basin. Road access to the area is provided by Saskatchewan Highway 955 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. The highway begins at a turn in Highway 165 and officially ends at Key Lake mine. It does not intersect with any provincial ...

and Saskatchewan Highway 905 north of the town of

La Ronge La Ronge is a List of municipalities in Saskatchewan, northern town in the boreal forest of Canada, boreal forest of Saskatchewan, Canada. The town is also the namesake of the larger #Population centre, La Ronge population centre, the largest ...

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 Rabbit Lake is the second largest uranium milling facility in the western world, and is the longest-operating uranium production facility in Saskatchewan. The facility is located approximately 800 km north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on the n ...

, which was discovered in 1968 by Gulf Mineral Resources and opened in 1975. The most important current mine is

Cameco Cameco Corporation (formerly Canadian Mining and Energy Corporation) is the world's largest publicly traded uranium company, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 2015, it was the world's second largest uranium producer, accounting for 18 ...

'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

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: the ...

and the

McClean Lake mine The McClean Lake mine is a uranium mine and milling operation located west of Wollaston Lake, about 700 kilometres north of Saskatoon, in the Athabasca Basin region of Saskatchewan, Canada. The McClean ore body was discovered in 1979, followed b ...

. Former mines include 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 ...

and Gunnar 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