“The CO2 geological storage information in this Atlas was developed to provide a high-level overview of CO2 geological storage potential across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The location and areal extent of promising geological storage formations and the CO2 resource estimates presented in this Atlas are intended to be used as an initial assessment of potential geological storage opportunities.” Quote from the Atlas introduction.
“Canada has 1.1 billion pounds of rare earths locked in black shale deposits (the Alberta Black Shale Project) worth an estimated $206 billion. In addition, several other Canadian mines across the country show great potential.” Quote from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce website.
The map above shows global temperature anomalies for March 2012. [...] For the month, the eastern two-thirds of the United States, as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba, saw temperatures [...] approaching as much as 10 degrees Celisius above normal (deepest reds on the map). Temperatures were similarly extreme in the Arctic Ocean around Svalbard, the Barents Sea, and the Kara Sea. Far eastern Siberia, Alaska, and northwestern North America were significantly colder, while much of Europe and western Russia were warmer than normal.
Rio Tinto is looking for buyers for three diamond mines. A 100% stake in the Argyle Mine in Australia that is famous for its pink diamonds, a 60% interest in the Diavik Mine in the Norwest Territories of Canada that is famous for it’s extremely high ore grade, and the smaller Murowa Diamond Mine in Zimbabwe.
Marine treasure hunters claim to have located the SS Port Nicholson, a Britsh ship that was torpedoed by a German submarine in 1942. It was carrying over $2 billion in precious metals and industrial diamonds.
“This video begins as the International Space Station is passing over the dark waters of the North Pacific Ocean northeast towards Vancouver Island. The Aurora Borealis can be seen far north, where both the under side and top of the aurora are visible. The pass continues over Canada until the sun begins to come up in the east while over Quebec.” Quoted from the NASA video release.
The area above the Arctic Circle is underlain by sedimentary basins and continental shelves that hold enormous oil and natural gas resources. The United States Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic contains approximately 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil resources and about 30 percent of its undiscovered conventional natural gas resources.
Analysts are expecting natural gas prices to continue falling during 2012 as overproduction and slow adoption of the fuel in the transportation and electricity generation industries continues.
Many different figures are being reported for the number of jobs that will result from construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. How many will be temporary construction jobs, how many will be sustained for pipeline operations and how many will be created in extracting the crude and processing.
De Beers Canada has an agreement with the Province of Ontario that ten percent of the gem quality diamonds produced from the Victor Mine will be cut in Ontario. The problem is finding cutters who have skills that match the quality of the stones.
Throughout the 20th century most people would never have thought about Canada being an important producer of diamonds. But in 1991 two geologists found evidence of kimberlite pipes about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Soon Canada became one of the world’s leading diamond producers.
To ensure a reliable supply of heavy rare earth minerals for its hybrid and electric cars, Toyota is entering into a deal that could give them a 49% stake in a Canadian mining operation.
A 35-storey mixed-use building is being constructed in Montreal, Canada that will be heated and cooled by 19 wells that have been drilled to depths of 400 feet beneath the foundation.
The American Geosciences Institute has released a recorded webinar titled “Canadian Exploration- High Demands for the Future Workforce”. You can view it on their website.
The Law of the Sea Treaty is an agreement that allocates the seafloor resources under the Arctic Ocean. A debate in the Wall Street Journal has arguments in favor and against.
In the third quarter of 2011, the Diavik DiamondMine in Canada’s Northwest Territories produced 1.9 million carats of rough diamond from 600,000 tons of ore. For the calendar year they expect to produce 6.9 million carats from 2 million tons of ore.
An article on the FuelFix.com website describes some of the current activity, ideas and plans related to oil exploration on the Arctic continental shelves.
“Although Lake Agassiz is gone, questions about its origin and disappearance remain. Answers to those questions may provide clues to our future climate.” Quoted from the University of Cincinnati news release.
A terminal to ship liquefied natural gas from Canada to Asian markets is being built near Kitimat, British Columbia. The terminal will have a significant transportation distance advantage over natural gas projects being built in Australia and Indonesia.
Although the United States Geological Survey estimates that the Bakken Formation beneath parts of North Dakota, Montana and Canada might contain over 4 billion barrels of oil, Harold Hamm, believes that it might contain up to 24 billion barrels.
The SciNEWS website has a new collection of resources that guide teachers in preparing learning activities for students that feature new research findings about some of the oldest-know feathers. These are based in part on an assemblage of Late Cretaceous dinosaur and bird feathers discovered in Canadian amber.
An article in the Houston Chronicle points to the rapidly rising rates of oil production in the United States and Canada. If current trends continue North America could be producing record amounts of oil by 2016.
Secrets from the age of the dinosaurs are usually revealed by fossilized bones, but a University of Alberta research team has turned up a treasure trove of late Cretaceous feathers, which have been discovered trapped in tree resin.
This isn’t news but the Oregon State University website has an excellent article titled: “Super-Scale Slumping of the Southern Oregon Cascadia Margin: Tsunamis, Tectonic Erosion, and Extension of the Forearc” with great seafloor maps and seismic sections. Be sure to enlarge the images.
Climate change is opening the Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route but one question remails: will Russia and Canada have enough interest and resources to develop the infrastructure needed to make them viable shipping routes?
“The study also found that soil in high-latitude regions could shift from being a sink to a source of carbon dioxide by the end of the 21st century as the soil warms in response to climate change.” Quoted from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory news release.
Gold in Newfoundland
August 22, 2011 | Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources
“The Island of Newfoundland represents an emerging underexplored gold district, where focused exploration for precious metals was essentially non-existent prior to the early 1980′s.” Quoted from the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources fact sheet.
Newfoundland and Labrador is geologically diverse and is richly endowed with a wide spectrum of minerals, including iron ore, base and precious metals, uranium, tungsten, molybdenum, antimony, rare earths and industrial minerals. [...] Yet it remains relatively under-explored compared with other mineral-rich jurisdictions, thus creating a unique opportunity for mineral resource investment and new mineral finds.
“These changes, though different at each pole, could be significant in their effects on not only the local environment, but also globally. While the central part of the Arctic is composed of ice over water, northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia and Greenland all have landmasses within the Arctic Circle.” Quoted from the Penn State University news release.
Natural gas prices in Asia are three times higher than prices in North America. Natural gas producers, Apache, Encana and EOG Resources hope to cash in on that by building a liquefied natural gas plant near Kitimat, British Colombia that will prepare LNG for shipment to Asian customers.
Solar storms last week set off an auroral display that could be seen as far south as Colorado and Nebraska. Three videos filmed in Canada by Michael Ericsson can be viewed on MSNBC.
Dramatic price increases in the rare earth metals markets have lots of companies looking for deposits. A number of companies are exploring for rare earths in Canada and this article reports on one neodymium discovery that could be significant.
“An analysis of prehistoric “Heinrich events” that happened many thousands of years ago, creating mass discharges of icebergs into the North Atlantic Ocean, make it clear that very small amounts of subsurface warming of water can trigger a rapid collapse of ice shelves.” Quoted from the Oregon State University news release.
Construction on the Kitimat LNG export terminal is about to begin. The facility on the northern coast of British Columbia is being built with an eye on the Asia-Pacific market. New terminals are also underway at Douglas Channel and Prince Rupert. Most of the gas for these terminals is coming from new shale plays.
In August 2010 a large “ice island” about four times the size of Manhattan broke from the Petermann Glacier on the northwestern coast of Greenland. Now the “Petermann Ice Island” is about the size of Manhattan and drifting off the coast of Labrador.
NASA’s Earth Observatory has an interesting “satellite image of the Arctic”. It is actually a mosaic image that shows the entire Arctic area in full daylight with very few clouds. It is a 6000 x 6000 pixel graphic.
Diamond discoveries in Canada have vaulted the country from obscurity to a leadership position in the diamond mining industry. Now a deposit has been discovered in central Saskatchewan that feasibility studies project will yield 12.3 carats per ton with a value of US$242 per carat.
The Geological Survey of Canada has published a report titled: “GeothermalEnergy Resource Potential of Canada”. You can download a copy of the report at the Natural Resources Canada website after confirming their end-user agreement. It is a large .pdf document and takes a few minutes to arrive.
An article on the CBC website gives a very good introduction to the destructive power of volcanoes and the three eruptions in Canada known to have been witnessed by people.
A 97 square-mile chunk of ice broke off of a Greenland glacier about a year ago and was recently spotted by satellites off the coast of Labrador, Canada. This is the largest Arctic iceberg in 50 years.
The Kimberly Process approved the export of diamonds produced in Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond fields over strong objections raised by representatives from the United States, Canada and European Union.
“The Cascadia Subduction Zone, which marks the most active seismic region in Canada, comprises the plate boundary between the oceanic Juan de Fuca Plate and the continental North America Plate.” Quoted from the Geological Survey of Canada article.
“Follow the Pacific Nearshore Project as researchers from the USGS, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and other institutions sail Alaskan waters to study sea otters and investigate coastal health.” Quoted from the USGS project descripton.
Members of Congress are trying to get a decision on TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline. The 1,600-mile pipeline would carry crude oil from Canadian oil sands deposits in Alberta to refineries in Texas.
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