The Firebag Property’s main deposit type is silica sand, or frac sand.

Silica sand, frac sand or proppant (i.e., propping agents) is a durable, round-grained, crushresistant material produced for oil and gas hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking. Fracking is used in the oil and gas industry to increase the flow of oil and/or gas from a well. Using hydraulic pressure, the producing formation is fractured open, and then proppants are pumped into the well with fracturing fluid to hold the fissures open so that the natural gas or crude oil can flow up the well. The proppant's size, shape and mechanical strength influence the integrity of the newly created fractures, and, therefore, the flow of oil and gas from the well. Billions of frac sand grains are carried deep into the fracture, and it can take up to four million pounds of sand to frack a single well.

The size range of the frac sand is very important. Typical sand sizes are generally between 8 and 140 mesh; some examples include 16/30 mesh, 20/40 mesh, 30/50 mesh, 40/70 mesh or 70/140 mesh. A controlled range of sizes and favoured spherical shapes will lead to greater conductivity.

The overall Quaternary sand deposit is characterized as follows:
- laterally extensive;
- generally consistent to depths exceeding 24 m;
- high in silica content; and
- indicative of frac sand quality as evidenced by rain size and roundness.

The test-pitting and auger-d ........

The development planned for the surface mineable area of Firebag Property will use the truck/excavator mining method.

The topography at the Firebag Property is gently sloped, with a maximum elevation of 312 m, and a low of 304 m. The high is a sand ridge in the northwestern portion of the mining area. There are no major or minor bodies of water mapped on site. Water was encountered at a depth of 17 m below topography in one test hole, however, no other test holes showed water; therefore, because the property will only be developed to a depth of 16 m, surface and groundwater is not considered an issue.

The system's general design criteria were developed by Norwest to support a yearround transportation and production system. Previous work completed by Norwest and other project development efforts have identified the following potential product sizes:
- 20/40 mesh;
- 40/70 mesh; and
- 70/140 mesh.

The conceptual process design was based on the hypothetical feed stock that was derived using the homogenized sample population from the geology component.

Both the Lynton receiving area and the Edson processing area are in alignment with the overall system capacity.

In general, the Lynton site functions as a receiving and trans-loading area to move the ROM sand from the mine to the processing plant in Edson.

The Edson site provides a receiving and stacking system for the ROM feed; it also has a wet plant and a dry plant, a dryer and a product dispatching system on site.

Using side dump trucks, the excavated sand will be ........