Saturn Minerals Receives Airborne Results, Deep Basin Anomalies Identified on Little Swan Oil Property
October 18 2012 - 10:26AM
Marketwired Canada
Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SMI)(FRANKFURT:SMK) ("Saturn" or the
"Company") has received the final results and interpretation of the airborne
gravity-magnetic survey conducted over Saturn's Little Swan and Bannock Creek
oil & gas properties in eastern Saskatchewan. The survey totaled 1,627 line-km
with flight lines spaced at 300 meters. The survey was completed by Fugro
Airborne Surveys of Ottawa, Ontario, and was designed to identify basement
structures which potentially affect the depth and burial of the Devonian and
older sedimentary formations which have proven to contain intercepts of oil
source rocks.
The Company is please to report that the survey has identified several
significant anomalies which are interpreted as a system of large-scale
horst-and-graben structures bound by potential deep faults. Two independent
methods, the SLUTH and Euler algorithms, were applied by Fugro for basement
depth estimate, the cross-comparative results of which agree very strongly.
The presence of several deep and wide grabens indicate that the sedimentary
formations underlying the Little Swan property are locally much thicker than was
previously understood. This interpretation significantly upgrades the potential
for oil generation from deeper sedimentary formations on the Little Swan
property. Source rock intervals encountered within the Devonian and older
formations in the shallow part of the basin are likely to reach the
oil-generation window in such deep grabens where exposed to adequate temperature
and pressure. Recently, Saturn reported the discovery of a significant interval
of extremely rich oil source rock with TOC levels of up to 14.17% in the
Devonian carbonate formations of the shallow part of the basin some 100 km
up-dip and north of the Little Swan property (see Saturn news release, October
4, 2012).
The results of the gravity-magnetic survey indicate that graben-like depressions
are locally affecting the entire Paleozoic succession and may provide excellent
conditions for local oil generation much further north from the center of the
Williston Basin than presently known. Saturns' 2010 discovery of a 4.4 meter
section of oil impregnated Devonian carbonate rocks within the higher
stratigraphic end-member of the Devonian succession is a strong indication of
oil migration, most likely from deeper levels. Significant relief of the modeled
Precambrian topography also provides varied pressure conditions for oil
migration and structural elevations for the development of effective traps in
potential reservoir rocks within the Devonian reef limestones and some older
formations.
Saturn will be undertaking an exploration program for the Little Swan property
which will include a 2D seismic survey designed to provide more precise
indication and locations of potential oil kitchens and structural traps to be
followed by exploration wells.
"We assumed that the influence that created the coal basins at shallow levels
was also affecting deeper levels of the area's geology," stated Stan Szary,
President & CEO. "The identification of these deeper basins beneath coal layers
shows that our assumption has merit. If these deeper basin targets contain the
same oil source rock we've discovered at shallower levels, the exciting question
is if there is oil generation going on within these deeper basins."
Dr. Krzysztof Mastalerz, P.Geo, is the Company's Qualified Person under NI
43-101 standards who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this
release.
About Saturn Minerals Inc.
Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SMI)(FRANKFURT:SMK) is a junior Canadian
energy & resources company advancing a portfolio of energy and resource assets
in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia. The Company has made three
bituminous coal discoveries at its Saskatoba Project since 2009, including one
of the thickest coal seams encountered in Canada at 89 metres thickness. The
Company also has strategic ownership in Inowending Exploration & Development
Corp., a First Nations owned exploration & development company active in
Canada's prairie provinces.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
SATURN MINERALS INC.
Stan Szary, Chief Executive Officer
To view the map accompanying this press release please click on the following
link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/SMI1018.pdf
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