Oct 20 2015
Select Sands Corp (the "Company") is pleased to announce that Missouri, US based Explosive Contractors Inc has extracted the first test silica sand sample in the starter pit at the Company's Sandtown project in Arkansas, USA. About 2,000 tons out of the 5,600 tons of silica sand extracted is to be processed and delivered to potential customers in energy for hydraulic fracturing and industrial markets (glass, foundry etc).Test mining includes rock fracturing, crushing, and screening using the contract mining company which has experience producing similar products sold in oil & gas and industrial markets.
The Company has identified a processing plant operator, in the area, to produce finished silica products (finer-mesh, high-purity "White" sand of 40/70 and 100 meshes). The processing plants will be used on "toll" basis. Test mining and toll processing may lead to larger scale production start as early as Q1 2016.
"We envisage two-stage production model of contract mining and toll processing first, followed by building our own plant to generate cash flow for our shareholders" commented Select Sands CEO Rasool Mohammad. "In just one year since acquiring the Sandtown property, we have very rapidly reached significant milestones."
The finished 'finer mesh' silica products are in increased demand in both the energy and industrial markets. New technological advancements in hydraulic fracking show significant improvements in recoveries and lower decline rates, while the housing construction boom in the US has created glass and fiberglass shortage in the United States. U.S. Silica (SLCA), one of the nation's major silica sand producers, stated in their Q2 2015 earnings call that their Oklahoma Mill Creek project will go through expansion as U.S. Silica can't meet customer's demand for the finer mesh sand. Mill Creek project in Oklahoma produces St Peter white finer mesh sand similar to Select Sands Sandtown Project in Arkansas.
The Company is well capitalized to achieve the milestones stated above.
About Select Sands Corp.
Select Sands' Sandtown property, located in northeast Arkansas, USA, is underlain by the Ordovician St. Peter sandstone formation, which is a major source of 'Ottawa White' Tier-1 frac sand/industrial sand selling into major US oil and gas basins as well as industrial and speciality end markets. The Sandtown property is located 3.1 miles from Highway 167 near a natural gas pipeline. The property has an active power line on the property and is located approximately 14.7 miles from the nearest rail system (see December 4, 2014 News Release). Compared to competitive sand mines located in Wisconsin owned by the largest US frac sand producers, Sandtown has a competitive location advantage as it is approximately 650 rail miles closer to the Texas/Louisiana oil/gas plays as well as the Houston port and industrial hub.
As per recently completed report by Tetra Tech of Golden, Colorado, USA and Vancouver, BC, Canada, 40% of the Sandtown property contains 22 million tons of Indicated resources of silica sand with a pre-tax NPV valued at US $160 million (See June 10, 2015 News Release).The Company also owns high-grade gold deposit in the La Ronge Gold Belt, northern Saskatchewan.
Douglas Turnbull, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the scientific and technical information disclosed in this News Release.
Source: http://www.selectsandscorp.com/