Mining Intelligence and News
Canada

Firebag Mine

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Categories

Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusInactive / Suspended
Commodities
  • Silica
  • Frac Sand
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotFirebag is a production ready mine.

The Firebag SandResource was opened and commenced production in February 2022 on a winter road. An all-season road has been approved but development of the all-season road has not commenced.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, management reassessed the recovery of resource development costs compared to saleable product and determined there was shortfall and wrote-down costs of $1,141,355. The market for the product is geographically limited and a substitute product is now being used by a prior customer. Alternative commercial uses for silica sand are limited due to the nature of the mineral and location.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Badger Mining Corp. 100 % Indirect
AMI Silica Inc. (operator) 100 % Direct
Athabasca Minerals Inc. owns a 100% interest in the Firebag silica sand project.

On October 5, 2018, Athabasca Minerals Inc. transferred the Firebag frac sand mine (the “Firebag Property”) to its wholly-owned subsidiary, AMI Silica Inc.

On April 26, 2024, Athabasca Minerals Inc., together with its subsidiaries (collectively, “Athabasca” or the “Corporation”) closed the previously announced transaction contemplated by the subscription agreement between the Corporation and Badger Mining Corporation (“Badger” or the “Purchaser”) providing for the acquisition of the Corporation by the Purchaser. The Transaction follows the Corporation's filing of the Notice of Intention under the provisions of Part III, Division 1 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada) and its previously announced sales and investment solicitation process (“SISP”).

Deposit type

  • Sedimentary

Summary:

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-drilling programs have confirmed that the sand deposit is extensive and correlates closely with the area mapped as “outwash sand” and “eolian sand”. The sands are typically very mature, as geological processes have rounded the sand grains and sorted out most impurities.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

Summary:

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 ........

Production

CommodityProductUnitsLOM (Projected)
Frac Sand 20/40 mesh t 2,919,740
Frac Sand 70/140 mesh t 7,534,580
Frac Sand 40/70 mesh t 12,273,330

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 11, 2024

Aerial view:

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