Alberta mineral & resource profiles

The largest proved hydrocarbon inventory in Alberta and the base load of provincial royalty income.

In Alberta

167.3 Bbbl proved (187 Bbbl proved + probable); 1,845 Bbbl in place

Price

WTI − US$24.95/bbl (Nov 2026 delivery)

Clearwater multilaterals, Duvernay and Montney liquids have reversed a decade of conventional decline.

In Alberta

9.3 Bbbl proved crude + condensate (10.4 Bbbl P+P)

Price

≈US$88/bbl (7 Oct 2026)

136 Tcf proved gas feeds oil sands steam, power, petrochemicals, hydrogen and LNG Canada.

In Alberta

136.0 Tcf proved marketable gas; 381.5 Tcf in place

Price

C$1.80/GJ spot (late Sep 2026); 2025 average C$1.74

Alberta's natural gas liquids are the feedstock for the largest petrochemical build-out in Canadian history.

In Alberta

NGLs ride on 136 Tcf proved gas plus 3.8 Bbbl Montney/Duvernay condensate

Price

Discount to Conway and Asian benchmarks

Dry Horseshoe Canyon coals once supplied 8 % of Alberta's gas; low AECO has parked the play.

In Alberta

10–12 Tcf recoverable Horseshoe Canyon CBM (CERI 2006 estimate); ~0.6 Bcf/d legacy production

Price

C$1.80/GJ (Sep 2026)

2.6 Mt/yr today, mostly grey; cheap gas plus pore space make Alberta the lowest-cost blue hydrogen region in North America.

In Alberta

2.6 Mt/yr (2025) → 4.4 Mt/yr by 2035; feedstock is 136 Tcf proved gas plus 79 Gt pore space

Price

≈C$0.65/kg over grey

Basement-sourced helium in nitrogen-rich gas over the Peace River and Sweetgrass arches.

In Alberta

No provincial reserve estimate; ~3,000 gas analyses above 0.4 % He; Worsley 15-25 contingent 323 MMcf He

Price

≈US$330/Mcf (2025)

Tens of gigawatts of heat in Devonian aquifers, priced against a C$44/MWh power pool.

In Alberta

Leduc 4.06 trillion GJ heat in place; Swan Hills 1.86 trillion GJ; Granite Wash 0.52 trillion GJ

Price

C$43.68/MWh (2025 average); C$32.15 Q1 2026

82.5 Mt LCE in place in Devonian reef brines — the largest lithium resource statement in Canada, waiting on DLE economics.

In Alberta

82.5 Mt LCE in place (Leduc 77.7 Mt, Swan Hills 4.8 Mt); 62 Mt within existing leases

Price

≈US$19,750/t (2 Sep 2026)

Roughly 79 Gt of saline-aquifer capacity, and the precondition for every other decarbonized product in the province.

In Alberta

≈79 Gt capacity in Alberta (WCSB ≈360 Gt); >18 Mt stored to date

Price

C$95/t (2026) → C$100 (2027–29) → C$115 (2030) → C$140 (2040)

High-quality Foothills coking coal under the tightest land-use policy in the province.

In Alberta

Large Foothills coking-coal endowment; provincial reserve figure dated (33 Gt all ranks, 2016)

Price

US$265.5/t (24 Sep 2026)

Domestic coal power ended in 2024; the remaining market is seaborne export from Vista and Coal Valley.

In Alberta

Huge Plains subbituminous endowment with no domestic market; Coalspur Vista exports 7–8 Mt/yr

Price

≈US$144/t (mid-Sep 2026)

High-grade showings on the Athabasca Basin's western margin, 60 km from Triple R and Arrow, with Alberta's own nuclear plans emerging.

In Alberta

No defined resource; Dragon Lake vein to 54.5 % U over 0.5 m; ≈95 uranium showings on the Shield

Price

Spot US$89.63/lb; term US$96.50/lb (30 Sep 2026, record term)

Oil sands mines already concentrate 11.5 % TiO2 and 3.6 % ZrO2 into froth-treatment tailings — a world-scale feedstock with no plant.

In Alberta

FTT ≈11.5 % TiO2, 3.6 % ZrO2; potential 220 kt/yr TiO2 + 80 kt/yr zircon; monazite 43.6–72.5 kt/yr

Price

Zircon US$1,316–1,835/t; ilmenite 46 % US$237/t; high-Ti slag ≈US$677/t (2026)

Bitumen upgrading concentrates 34–39 kt of vanadium a year into petcoke and boiler ash — ore-grade metal in a waste pile.

In Alberta

Petcoke stockpiles ≈126 kt V; 34–39 kt V/yr concentrated; petcoke ash 34,700–65,700 ppm V

Price

US$12,600–14,400/t (2026) ≈ US$5.7–6.5/lb

A billion-tonne oolitic ironstone with 0.2 % V2O5 — big, shallow, and metallurgically stubborn.

In Alberta

557.7 Mt @ 33.3 % Fe, 0.20 % V2O5 indicated + 94.7 Mt inferred; 1.116 Mt V2O5 (AGS)

Price

V2O5 US$12,600–14,400/t (2026); iron ore US$97–100/dmt

Fifty-one kimberlites, twenty-six diamondiferous, grades of 6–55 carats per hundred tonnes — intriguing but sub-economic so far.

In Alberta

51 kimberlites; Buffalo Head Hills 26–28 diamondiferous; K252 0.55 ct/t (22.8 t sample)

Price

123.1 (Nov 2025), −8.6 % y/y; 2022 peak 207.3

Half a million tonnes of TREO in Birch Mountains black shale, monazite in oil sands tailings, and REE-rich coal ash — all low grade, all by-product plays.

In Alberta

Buckton 472.6 kt TREO inferred + 28.5 kt indicated; FTT monazite 43.6–72.5 kt/yr; Genesee ash ≤1,399 ppm REO

Price

US$97,969–99,935/t (Jan 2026); BMI 2026 average forecast US$90,000/t

A tonne of flour gold from the North Saskatchewan since the 1860s, and grab samples to 3.2 g/t on the Shield.

In Alberta

≈1 t historic placer production; Shield grabs to 3.2 g/t Au

Price

≈US$4,323/oz (Sep 2026); World Bank 2026f US$4,700

190 showings on Alberta's sliver of Canadian Shield and a Pine Point analogue under the north-west — greenfield in every sense.

In Alberta

No deposit; 190 Shield occurrences; Selwyn Lake VMS textures (294 ppm Cu); Oldman River Pb-Zn showing

Price

Cu ≈US$14,737/t; Zn US$4,110/t; Ni US$16,675/t (Sep 2026)

A by-product of sour gas and bitumen that became a US$238/t export commodity in 2025.

In Alberta

≈4 Mt/yr recovered (dated); 11.66 Mt inventory (Jul 2025)

Price

US$238/t average Jan–Jul 2025 (US$78 in 2024); US$280–290 Q3 2025

33,000 km² of exceptionally pure Lotsberg and Prairie Evaporite halite — a chemical feedstock and the province's cavern-storage asset.

In Alberta

≈33,200 km² of Elk Point salt; Lindbergh bed ≈300 m thick

Price

≈US$60–120/t (supplier listings, unverified)

Peace River Paddy Member and Bruderheim sands already supply Montney frac sand; glass and solar grades are the next tier.

In Alberta

Peace River Paddy Member (up to 16.5 m friable quartz sand), Firebag ≈16 Mt, Bruderheim glaciofluvial sand

Price

No public 2025–26 index (paid studies only)

Front Ranges carbonate feeds western Canada's largest cement plant and the lime the oil sands depend on.

In Alberta

Large high-purity Paleozoic carbonate along the Front Ranges; quarry tonnages unpublished

Price

2026 price not found (unverified)

A fifth of Canada's horticultural peat, mostly exported to US growers.

In Alberta

Alberta ≈17 % of Canadian peat; <1,000 ha harvested; vast boreal peatlands

Price

≈C$90–160/t (retail-derived, unverified)

Alberta's official gemstone, with 90 % of world supply from one river valley south of Lethbridge.

In Alberta

Korite SM4 >42 M carats (2003–16); ≈90–95 % of world reserves

Price

Value unverified; Korite lost ≈C$8.5 M anticipated sales 2019–20

Rundle rock and Paskapoo sandstone built Calgary and the Legislature; today a C$6 M/yr niche.

In Alberta

Rundle rock (Canmore), Paskapoo sandstone (Calgary), coal-mine waste rock (AGS study)

Price

Project-priced; no index

Metiskow produced from 1969 until demand vanished; Saskatchewan's lakes now own the market.

In Alberta

Closed Metiskow deposit; other saline lakes mapped (AGS OFR 1985-05)

Price

≈US$78/t (China, Jul 2026)

Drumheller and Rosalind bentonite beds are known but thin; Alberta's drilling-mud demand is met by imports.

In Alberta

Rosalind beds ≈3 m and 1.2 m; Drumheller historic; limited swelling grade

Price

≈US$215–255/t (2026)

Alberta's best gypsum sits inside Wood Buffalo National Park; the rest is small or in forest reserves.

In Alberta

Peace Point (protected); Grande Cache 2.6 Mt @ 75–80 %; Kananaskis deposit

Price

≈US$39/t (USA), US$49/t (Germany), Q2 2026

Thin Fernie and Exshaw phosphorite beds in the Eastern Slopes while Alberta imports 2 Mt of rock a year.

In Alberta

Exshaw <10 Mt @ up to 25 % P2O5 (seams <50 cm); Fernie ≈260 Mt low grade

Price

Rock US$153 (2025) → US$160 (2026f); DAP US$685 → US$725

Prairie Evaporite potash beds stop at the Saskatchewan sub-basin; Alberta has potassium-rich brines but no defined KCl resource.

In Alberta

No defined Alberta potash resource; K-rich brines up to 28,800 mg/L K

Price

US$348/t (2025) → US$390 (2026f) → US$365 (2027f)

Abundant dolomite and MgCl2-rich brines, but the energy-intensive metal route has no Alberta champion.

In Alberta

Formation-water Mg 2–136 kg/m²; Devonian dolomite abundant; no Mg project

Price

≈US$2,330/t (Jun 2026)

Alberta's most valuable mineral by tonnage and dollars — and the one most often sterilized by the cities that need it.

In Alberta

≈55–75 Mt/yr production (derived); #1 Alberta mineral by value and tonnage

Price

≈C$5.79/t (2006, dated) plus haul