Grant: Alliance Grants

Geomicrobial survey is an emerging technology that seeks to detect subsurface deposits by identifying and enumerating microbial species in soil samples. Geomicrobiology is intended to complement existing geochemical and geophysical exploration by observing how microbial communities in shallow soil are shaped by the geological formations below. The data richness of microbial profiling offers geologists a magnifying lens through which to refine the selection of exploratory drilling targets. In addition, microbiological profiling requires small amounts of material and very minimal disruption to local ecosystems, providing efficiency, economy, and the potential for reduced environmental impacts in mining exploration by enhancing drill target selection. Two Canadian mineral exploration companies, Pan American Energy Corporation and Integral Metals Corporation, operate mineral exploration operations in Ontario to find deposits of lithium, gallium, tantalum, and beryllium. Deposits of these metals can be difficult to locate because the pegmatites in which they are found resemble the physical properties of the surrounding geology. In the proposed NSERC Alliance - Mitacs grant, Pan American and Integral Metals will partner with Dr. Cameron and the Institute of Microbial Systems and Society at the University of Regina to apply geomicrobiology survey with extensive metadata collection at known, suspected, and unknown critical mineral deposits. High resolution sampling grids at known deposits will be used to calibrate the use of specific microbial species and the structure of microbial communities for geomicrobial surveys. The richness of microbial datasets combined with chemistry, mineral, pH, physical, magnetism, and other data will provide statistical power to detect relationships between microbial communities and features of the surrounding geology. These insights will be directly integrated into exploration models and top ranked critical mineral targets will be tested by drilling.