RESOURCE CONTEXT
Large high-purity Paleozoic carbonate along the Front Ranges; quarry tonnages unpublished
Front Ranges carbonate feeds western Canada's largest cement plant and the lime the oil sands depend on.
QUARRYIndustrial minerals
Cadomin Quarry
Heidelberg Materials · Rail-fed limestone for Edmonton cement plant
Edmonton plant's full-scale CCS (≈1 Mt/yr, up to C$2 B) paused August 2026 on weak carbon prices.
GEOLOGICAL SETTING
Prospectivity envelopes for Limestone, dolomite, cement & lime
- Front Ranges carbonate belt (Exshaw–Cadomin)Producing / drill-provenHigh-purity Devonian–Mississippian carbonate (Palliser, Rundle) in thrust sheets
Development regime
- Tenure
- Metallic & Industrial Minerals Tenure Regulation (AR 265/2022): permit — exclusive exploration right, indefinite term, no rent, $625 fee, assessment work $7/ha (first 2 years) → $13 → $20/ha; lease — 15-year initial + 15-year intermediate term, indefinite while producing, $3.50/ha rent.
- Royalty
- $0.0441/t for limestone, shale, granite, sandstone, gypsum and building stone (AR 350/93 s.12).
DATASETS TO STACK HERE
Public layers that cover this site
- Bedrock geology of Alberta (Map 600 tiles)Alberta Geological SurveyWhich formation is at the bedrock surface: the first screen for outcropping targets such as silica sand, limestone, ironstone, bentonite, ammonite shell and shallow coal.
- Bedrock geology polygons (DIG 2013-0018, queryable)Alberta Geological SurveyAttribute-level bedrock mapping for screening host lithologies; heavy, so it loads only when zoomed in.
- Industrial mineral occurrences (DIG 2019-0027)Alberta Geological SurveyQuarry and industrial-mineral target inventory.
- AGS prospective areas for mineral explorationAlberta Geological SurveyThe survey's own view of where each commodity is prospective; compare with the Atlas knowledge-driven envelopes.
- NRCan Map 900A: producing mines, mineral areas, oil & gas fieldsNatural Resources CanadaOfficial federal view of producing operations to cross-check the Atlas mine inventory.
- Coal Development Policy (1976) categories 1–4Government of AlbertaCategory 1 = no exploration; Category 2 = no open pit. The decisive constraint for metallurgical coal.
- Metallic & industrial minerals agreementsAlberta Energy and MineralsLithium, salt, silica, limestone and metallic tenure; about 2 million ha are under lithium leases.
- Metallic, placer, quarriable & salt mine boundariesAlberta Energy and MineralsOfficial footprints of non-energy mines and brine fields.
NEARBY OPERATIONS
Within reach
- Cheviot / Cardinal RiverCoal mine · Teck → Elk Valley Resources (Glencore) · ≈8 kmClosed (recent)
- Coal Valley (Pit 26)Coal mine · Prairie Mines & Royalty (Westmoreland) · ≈36 kmOperating
- Vista (Phase I + Phase II)Coal mine · Coalspur Mines (Bighorn / Cline Group) · ≈39 kmOperating
- Latitude 53 geothermal greenhouse (Hinton)Geothermal · Novus Earth · ≈45 kmPermitting
- Grande Cache (No. 8 Mine)Coal mine · CST Canada Coal · ≈152 kmOperating
- Summit Mine 14 (underground)Coal mine · Summit Coal (Valory Resources) · ≈160 kmPermitting