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50 | Frac Sand Insider May 2015 www.rockproducts.com Geology BritiSh columBia The Rocky Mountain foothills between Mackenzie and Fort St. John (Figure 14): The Middle to Upper Triassic Liard Formation, the Upper Triassic Charlie Lake Formation; and the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Monteith Formation and Lower Cretaceous Mo- nach Formation of the Minnes Group are the most prospective bed- rock units assessed for potential frac sands in the province (Hickin and others, 2010). The Liard Formation is mainly a calcite-cement- ed, fne- to medium-grained, well- to sub-rounded to sub-angular, 90 percent quartz arenite of marine shoreface origin (Hickin and others, 2010). The Charlie Lake Formation is a calcite-cemented, fne- to medium-grained, well- to sub-rounded, feldspathic arenite of marine intertidal origin (Hickin and others, 2010). The Monteith Formation is a silica-cemented, fne- to medium- to coarse-grained, sub-angular to sub-rounded, 95 percent quartz arenite of deltaic origin (Hickin and others, 2010). The Monach Formation is a medi- um- to coarse-grained sand and coarse to granule conglomerate, rounded to sub-rounded, 95 percent quartz arenite of deltaic origin (Hickin and others, 2010). Horn River Basin: unconsolidated deposits with good potential as frac sands include the Komie glaciofuvial delta deposits on the western edge of the Horn River Basin (Hickin and others, 2010) (Figure 1). Dawson Creek: unconsolidated deposits with good potential as frac sands include the Redwillow glaciofuvial delta south of Dawson Creek (Hickin and others, 2010) (Figure 14). Fort Nelson: unconsolidated deposits with good potential as frac sands include the aeolian deposits of the Fontas Dune Field southeast of Fort Nelson (Hickin and others, 2010) (Figure 14). Golden: The Moberly frac sand project is due to expand its glass sand mine for potential frac sand with an estimated capacity of 300,000 tpy (Claim Post Resources Inc., 2013). Prince Stikine Energy Corporation has two ac- tive frac sand exploration projects, the Nonda and Angus projects, each having an estimated capacity of 1,000,000 tpy (Claim Post Resources Inc., 2013). These are north of Prince George near the Yukon border (Levson and others, 2012) (Figure 14). These frac sand projects will require processing that includes crushing, libera- tion, and cleaning/sorting (Stikine Gold, 2014). The Nonda project is 150 km (93 mi) west of the Horn River Shale Basin (Figure 1), consists of a quartz-pure sandstone in 40/70 and 100 mesh sizes that is very homogeneous and has a surface exposure >11.5 km x 1 km (>7.1 mi x 0.6 mi) (Stikine Gold, 2014). The Angus project is 200 km (124 mi) south of the Montney Shale Basin (Figure 1), con- sists of quartz-pure sandstone in 20/40, 30/50, and 40/70 mesh sizes that has a surface exposure of >5 km x 1 km (>3.1 mi x 0.6 mi) (Stikine Gold, 2014). West of Flin Flon : Hanson Lake Sands has a frac sand deposit with an estimated capacity of 800,000 tpy (Claim Post Resources Inc., 2013). (Figure 14). northweSt territorieS Fort Liard: Silica North Resources, Ltd., has an active frac sand exploration project (Levson and others, 2012). (Figure 14). Mackenzie River: less than optimally accessible quartz-rich sandstone of the Proterozoic Katherine Group and the Cambrian Mount Clark Formation occurs along the Mackenzie River (Figure 14); and potentially accessible units are at Great Slave Lake (Pro- terozoic Preble, Kluziai, and Hornby Channel Formations and the Cambrian Old Fort Island Formation) (Levson and others, 2012). Also, Quaternary sand units with high frac sand potential include sand dune deposits derived from older glaciofuvial or sandy gla- ciolacustrine sediments, and/or sandy bedrock units (examples of these include the reworked sand units located along the Mackenzie River in the Fort Good Hope, Mountain River, Tulita, Keele River, and Fort Simpson areas, Northwest Territories) (Levson and oth- ers, 2012). As well, the sandy glaciofuvial deposits along the Liard Highway and paleo-beach ridges and dunes along the North Arm of Great Slave Lake are considered units with high economic potential as frac sand (Levson and others, 2012). manitoBa Seymourville: Claim Post Resources, Inc., is developing a surface frac sand deposit in the Seymourville area (Figure 14) that is targeted for production in 2015, with estimated capacity of 400,000–1,200,000 tpy. The company has combined the Gossan and Char Crete leases into a single 2.5 mi 2 project on east shore of Lake Winnipeg, northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba. These leases are across lake from Black Island, which has had historical produc- tion of white silica sand from a quarry on its southeastern shoreline (Claim Post Resources Inc., 2013). Northern Manitoba: Vickory Nickel, Inc., has a prospective frac sand deposit with an estimated capacity of 500,000 tpy that is 60 m (about 200 ft.) below rock within a nickel mine (Claim Post Re- sources Inc., 2013). (Figure 14). SaSkatchewan Winn Bay: Preferred Sands acquired Winn Bay Sand in 2011 (Snyder, 2013). This deposit occurs in sandstone of the Ordovician Winnipeg Formation (Levson and others, 2012). Lloydminster: Canfrac Sands Ltd. transports about 50,000 to 100,000 tons of frac sand per year from this deposit (Snyder, 2013). (Figure 14). multiple provinceS Canadian stratigraphic units with future frac sand potential exist in the Liard River Valley in British Columbia, Yukon, and Northwest Territories (Figure 14) in the Carboniferous Mattson Formation and Cretaceous Sikanni, Scatter, and Dunvegan Formations (Levson and others, 2012).