Select Sands Corp. updated its ongoing drill program on its Sandtown Frac Sand property in northeast Arkansas. The property is underlain by the Ordovician St. Peter sandstone formation, which is the source of ‘Ottawa White’ frac sand selling into the major U.S. oil and gas plays.
There are several surface outcrop exposures of the St. Peter sandstone unit on the Property. The Sandtown property is located 3.1 miles from Highway 167, has an active power line on the property, and is about 14.7 miles away from the nearest rail system.
Recent studies suggest that the demand for fine grade sands (particularly 100 Mesh) will continue to increase due to weather-related logistical challenges and unexpectedly high requirements stemming from changes to fracking design. The sandstone at the property is “considered to be of finer mesh than anticipated based on the visual inspection from the current drilling,” the company said.
Select Sands has drilled three diamond drill holes and is currently drilling the fourth. The phase-one reconnaissance drill program will test the depth and thickness of the sandstone and will provide an initial indication of mesh size of the frac sand on the property. The company will test the properties of frac sand as per the ISO 13503-2:2006/API RP 19C Recommended Practice for Measurement of Properties of Proppants Used in Hydraulic Fracturing and Gravel-packing Operations. These properties include sand sphericity and roundness, crush (K Value), acid solubility, turbidity, and SiO2 percent content.
“Based on the estimated 20-30 percent reduction on spending in 2015 in US drilling activity, we anticipate that frac sand transportation costs will experience the largest cuts in the sector,” Rasool Mohammad, president and CEO commented. “Sandtown is 650 rail-miles closer to the Permian and Eagle Ford (Texas) basins than the Wisconsin frac sand mines and can provide the transportation cost savings.”