RESOURCE CONTEXT
≈33,200 km² of Elk Point salt; Lindbergh bed ≈300 m thick
33,000 km² of exceptionally pure Lotsberg and Prairie Evaporite halite — a chemical feedstock and the province's cavern-storage asset.
SALT / BRINEIndustrial minerals
Fort Saskatchewan brine & cavern fields
Dow, ATCO Energy Solutions, Keyera · Lotsberg caverns for NGL, ethylene and hydrogen storage
Dow chlor-alkali closed 2006; caverns now storage assets for the Industrial Heartland.
GEOLOGICAL SETTING
Prospectivity envelopes for Salt (halite) & brine caverns
- Lotsberg / Cold Lake salt corridor (Fort Saskatchewan–Lindbergh)Producing / drill-provenThick, clean Lower Devonian halite suited to solution mining and cavern storage
- Prairie Evaporite shallow subcrop (Fort McMurray)FavourableShallow halite beneath the Athabasca oil sands
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. Salt mines appear as SLR (salt mine) permits on the Alberta Energy mine-boundary layer.
- Royalty
- $0.45/t for salt, sodium sulphate, sodium carbonate and any mineral extracted in salt form (AR 350/93 s.15).
DATASETS TO STACK HERE
Public layers that cover this site
- 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.
- Bedrock topography (DIG 2020-0022 tiles)Alberta Geological SurveyBuried valleys and bedrock highs: where cover is thin (cheap stripping) and where preglacial gravels pool.
- 3D Provincial Geological Framework: Precambrian subcrop zonesAlberta Geological SurveyEntry point to the provincial 3D framework: which Paleozoic zone sits on basement controls helium traps, brine aquifers and storage seals.
- 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.
- 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
- Dow Path2Zero (Fort Saskatchewan)Hydrogen · Dow / Linde · ≈1 kmConstruction
- Quest CCS (Scotford)CCS hub · Shell (operator) / Canadian Natural · ≈7 kmOperating
- Shell Polaris capture + Atlas storage hubCCS hub · Shell / ATCO EnPower · ≈13 kmConstruction
- Sil Industrial Minerals — BruderheimSilica sand · Sil Industrial Minerals · ≈16 kmOperating
- Air Products Edmonton net-zero hydrogen complexHydrogen · Air Products · ≈20 kmConstruction
- Dodds Coal Mine (Ryley)Coal mine · Dodds Coal Mining · ≈70 kmOperating