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Geochemical and X-ray diffraction analyses of drill core samples from the Canyon uranium-copper deposit, a solution-collapse breccia pipe, Grand Canyon area, Coconino County, Arizona
This data release compiles the major and trace element analytical results of drill core samples that typify the uranium-copper ore bodies of the Canyon deposit, located about 6.1 miles (10 km) south-southeast of Tusayan, Arizona. The Canyon deposit lies from about 750 to 2,000 ft (230 to 610 m) below the surface at latitude 35.88333 North, longitude -112.09583 West (datum WGS 1984). Energy Fuels, owners and operators of the property, has conducted extensive drilling into the Canyon deposit, which has defined the extent and characteristics of the ore bodies, leading to mine development. On a site visit in February 2018, Energy Fuels generously allowed the authors (U.S. Geological Survey geologists) to examine and sample drill cores of mineralized portions of the Canyon deposit, focused primarily on intervals of high-grade uranium and associated mineralization. This data release provides the analytical results of 35 samples of drill core collected during the visit by the authors. Additionally, X-ray Diffraction analyses were performed on 28 of these samples to examine their mineralogy. These samples and their geochemistry reflect the variation of base-metal sulfide and uranium oxide mineralization within ore zones of the Canyon deposit. The ore mineralogy, and thus rock chemistry, can vary over short intervals (centimeters). However, although their concentrations vary, the group of metals that occur together is generally consistent. The 35 samples were analyzed for 63 elements by a laboratory contracted by the USGS. Concentrations for 58 elements were measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Additionally, total carbon, carbonate carbon (inorganic carbon), total sulfur, mercury, and selenium concentrations were determined using other element-specific analytical techniques (described below). From this suite of 35 samples, 28 were analyzed by X-ray Diffraction to determine their mineralogy. The X-ray Diffraction scan results are provided in the data file named "Canyon_deposit_drill_core_samples_XRD.csv". The Canyon uranium-copper deposit occurs within a matrix-supported column of breccia (a "breccia pipe") that is similar to numerous other uranium-bearing breccia pipes of the Grand Canyon region of northwest Arizona. These uranium deposits occur in unusual features described as solution-collapse breccia pipes, or simply breccia pipes (Wenrich, 1985; Alpine, 2010). The regions north and south of the Grand Canyon host hundreds of breccia pipes that were formed by solution and collapse (Van Gosen and others, 2016). Breccia refers to the broken rock that fills these features, and pipe refers to the vertical, pipe-like shape of these features. The breccia pipes average about 300 ft (90 m) in diameter, and can extend vertically for as much as 3,000 ft (900 m), from their base in the Mississippian Redwall Limestone to as stratigraphically high as the Triassic Chinle Formation. The breccia fragments that form the pipes are consistently blocks and pieces of rock units found below their normal position in the wall rock; that is, all rocks within the breccia column have fallen downward and are never found above their original level. In contrast to many other types of breccia pipes, there are no igneous rocks associated with the northwestern Arizona breccia pipes, nor have igneous processes contributed to their formation. Many of these breccia pipes contain concentrated deposits of uranium, arsenic, copper, silver, lead, zinc, cobalt, and nickel minerals (Wenrich, 1985), as is reflected in this data set. Subsequent to the primary episodes of solution and collapse (breccia pipe formation), base-metal mineralization was deposited in the breccia pipes, primarily as sulfide phases, and principally in the stratigraphic levels of the Coconino Sandstone, Hermit Formation, and Esplanade Sandstone (Wenrich, 1985; Alpine, 2010). In the Canyon breccia pipe,