SASK GEOSCIENCE SHOWCASE MARKS 50 YEARS
Saskatchewan Geological Open House set for Dec. 2-4
In 1969 most of the world was focused on the Moon rocks astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin brought back with them.
But geoscientists and Earth sciences academics in Saskatchewan were more interested in talking about the ground beneath their own feet, and the treasures to be found there.
That was the year the Saskatchewan Geological Open House began in Regina. Back then it was just a handful of people interested in getting the word out about their research.
But boy did it grow, says Jason Berenyi, assistant chief geologist – Minerals and Northern Geology Unit for the Saskatchewan Geological Survey. Berenyi is also chair of the organizing committee for the annual event, which runs Dec. 2-4, 2019 at the Delta Bessborough Hotel in Saskatoon. There will be more than 700 local, national, and international delegates in attendance at the 50th incarnation of the event.
“It went from being an afternoon with a couple of posters and a few talks, and grew a little bit year after year until the mid1990s when one of the previous executive directors had the idea to bring it more in step with conferences like the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada event in Toronto, and the Mineral Exploration Roundup in Vancouver.”
The new format threw open the doors for industry researchers to participate in the show and give reports on activities in the private sector.
“That’s when it moved to Saskatoon because it was the heart of the province’s mineral exploration industry,” Berenyi said. “That very much changed what the open house was. It went from being purely focused on public geoscience to now incorporating project updates and advances in exploration techniques. We now have companies that show up and say ‘Hey, here’s a project we’re working on, these are our drill results, this is what we found, this is why we’re optimistic about this’, or another company will say ‘Hey, we went into this area. We flew a new type of airborne geophysical survey, and we highlighted these deposits’.”
Berenyi said the role of the government is to help facilitate the responsible development of Saskatchewan’s resources.
“Our partner, the Saskatchewan Geological Society, who co-hosts this conference, is a volunteer organization that’s been around since 1951. Their mandate is to promote the study and practice of the Earth sciences in Saskatchewan. So, it was a natural fit for us to partner with them to help deliver this conference. “Our annual Open House is our opportunity to showcase the geoscience that government researchers do and for our mineral industry clients to provide updates on their projects, and for our friends and partners at universities and academic institutions to talk about their research as well.”
The conference includes an exhibitor trade show, with displays by industry service providers: geophysical service, air service, as well as the people who build camps.
“The heart of the show is still the technical program,” Bereyni said. “We have two days of technical talks, and we have about 40 talks a year.”
Those will come from a mix of government staff, including geoscientists putting out public geoscience research done for the benefit of the minerals industry. In addition, the organizers invite abstracts to be submitted by industry members and academics and vet them to make sure they are pertinent to the attendees. “We have students that are in graduate studies, or professors that working with graduate students and they’re doing focused research geoscience projects. Sometimes they are supported by us, or they’re supported by the Geological Survey of Canada, or by actual exploration companies. Those people get the opportunity to talk about their results.”
Students and researchers also have the opportunity to submit posters. “That’s another traditional thing that happens at all these geoscience conferences. We’ll have a poster competition and exhibit.”
Berenyi said one thing the general public may not realize is the mineral potential that is still to be discovered and developed in the province.
“People know about our potash resources in the south and they know a lot about our uranium resources in the north, but not a lot of people know about our gold potential. We have one active gold mine right now, but we have several other deposits that are at various stages of evaluation. And we have base metal deposits – things like copper, zinc, lead – and we actually have historic production of these metals from the Flin Flon/creighton area. We believe there’s still tremendous potential in the province for new discoveries.”
Saskatchewan’s diamond deposits continue to attract attention. Berenyl says people “are quite keen on hearing updates on the work being done right now to evaluate these very large kimberlite deposits in Saskatchewan.
“We believe we’ve really just scratched the surface of our mineral potential here in the province.”