EXTECH IV: Geology and Uranium EXploration TECHnology of the Proterozoic Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan and Alberta.: C. W. JEFFERSON and G. DELANEY, Editors. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 588, Saskatchewan Geological Society Special Publication 18, and Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Association of Canada Special Publication 4. 645 Pp. 2007. Report and CD-ROM. ISBN 978-0-660-19492-9. Price Can$70 in Canada; Can$91

Abstract

The Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Association of Canada, the Geological Survey of Canada, the Saskatchewan Geological Society, and, in particular, the editors of this volume (Jefferson and Delaney) are to be congratulated on their efforts and timing to bring together the research results of EXTECH IV at a time of dramatic resurgence in global uranium exploration. So often the final published results of interagency multidisciplinary projects of this magnitude languish for years after termination of their funding and in the end the outcomes are typically dispersed as graduate theses archived in universities and as individual papers submitted across a variety of geoscience journals. To have brought together the results of this four-year-long interagency, multidisciplinary study so quickly and thoroughly after the termination of the EXTECH IV funding is a significant accomplishment by the sponsoring agencies and the editors. To set the stage for the importance of this volume, a little background on the state of uranium within the geologic community probably is required. Since the early 1980s, uranium exploration has been in the doldrums, with the spot price for uranium dropping below US$9 per lb by the mid-1990s and exploration expenditures nearly dropping off the radar screen in terms of overall global exploration. It is only in the last few years that uranium prices have seen dramatic increases exceeding US$130 per lb by mid-2007. Prior to this recent surge in the price of uranium, it is not surprising that the wider geologic community and academia had largely neglected research on uranium deposits and their environs during the past 25 years. Nevertheless, a few research centers, funded through collaborations with the rather small fraternity of uranium explorers, kept the flame of research going during this period. These results have been typically held as proprietary by the companies or dispersed …