This dataset is a compilation of industrial mineral occurrences in Alberta which was produced for Map 590, Minerals of Alberta. This dataset provides an update to the Alberta Industrial Mineral Deposits and Occurrences (AMDO) digital file, published in 2010 (DIG 2003-0014). The updated dataset contains 1460 records including current producers, past producers, exploration projects, prospects, and other types of occurrences of industrial minerals in the province. Materials included are: ammolite, ammonite, bentonite, calcium, magnesium, lithium, boron, bromine, iodine, limestone, dolomite, sandstone, siltstone, granite, quartzite, other stones, clay, shale, salt, potash, gypsum, sodium sulphate, marl, tufa, phosphate, silica sand, pumicite, sulphur, fly ash, humalite, and sand and gravel.
This dataset is part of a package of data produced to support the creation of AGS Map 590, Minerals of Alberta. The package includes datasets of Prospective Areas for Mineral Exploration (DIG 2019-0025), Metallic Mineral Occurrences of Alberta (DIG 2019-0026), Kiimberlite and Ultrabasic Intrusions of Alberta (DIG 2019-0028), Lithium Content in Groundwater and Formation Water in Alberta (DIG 2019-0029), references (txt), and a description of the methodology (Map 590 Information Document).
The data was extracted from existing public data available on the Alberta Geological Survey and Alberta Energy websites.
Minor text format inconsistencies) may be present.
Project and prospect mineral occurrence locations may represent an exploration property area with many observations and analytical test results. As such, the location of the mineral occurrence may not fall on any single point of observation or sampling. Due to time constraints, no attempt was made to complete mineral datasets with multi-point observations.
Although review was completed to remove inconsistencies in attribute and text formats, there may be a number of inconsistencies in the dataset.
One hundred and four occurrences were removed from the source dataset (DIG 2003-0014).
Location of producers was corrected for every current producing mine or facility as of 2018, however most of locations for prospects, showings and failed tests were left unchecked or were corrected opportunistically.
Although spatial locations were checked for uniqueness some still may not be unique. This was a compilation of data from many sources. When spatial locations were checked for uniqueness, marl and tufa for example were found to be unique, but the actual location coordinates for about 4% of the rest of industrial mineral records are separated by less than 100 m, indicating that these may be duplicates, or multiple sample points for an occurrence.
The Industrial Mineral Deposits and Occurrences (AMDO) dataset (DIG 2003-0014, 1364 occurrences) was updated to include industrial mineral occurrences from AGS publications, mineral assessment reports, and other technical reports published after 2003. In some instances, AMDO occurrences were updated to correct or standardize location, commodity, development stage, references, geological unit and age. Information in fields such as size class, recoverability, beneficiation studies, description, mineral analyses, geochemical analyses and physical tests were imported as-is with minor changes to correct references and typographical errors. Some records were deleted in order to remove duplicates or erroneous data. Sulphur points in AMDO dataset were also removed as these had several errors and producers were re-added from current up-to-date AER databases. Sulphur current producers are a subset of those listed in AER publication “ST50A: Gas processing plants in Alberta”. Only 32 gas plants were considered for this project as active with reported sulphur volumes from 2016 to present. The Alberta Energy Outlook 2019 (Alberta Energy Regulator, 2019; ST98) and Gas Processing Plants (ST50A) should be consulted to have the complete list of sulphur processing plants in Alberta.
Development stage [Dev_Stage] is defined by the following:
Producer: Mineral concentration from which ore grade material currently is being extracted.
Past producer: Mineral deposit from which ore grade material has been extracted in the past; ore reserves and grade may be known from production records.
Project with resource estimate: Property with a mineral concentration that has been drilled or investigated so that the presence of ore grade material has been established and has completed a resource estimation (NI 43-101 compliant or not).
Prospect: Mineral concentration that has been drilled or investigated in some manner which warrants further exploration.
Showing: Concentration of a mineral of economic interest which is anomalous by some measure, with no specified grade and size, and that may or may not warrant additional study. Access and recoverability may be unfavourable.
Geochemical Anomaly: Location where at least one sample exceeds background concentrations.
Geophysical Anomaly: Location where radiometric, magnetic, electromagnetic, or gravity data differ from surrounding area.
Failed Test: Mineral occurrence which has indications of mineral content, but has been shown from assays or tests to lack economic mineral potential for the foreseeable future.
No attempt was made to normalize, review, or correct every AMDO occurrence.
The new updated file totals 1460 industrial mineral occurrences.