Athabasca Minerals Inc. (AMI) announced a definitive agreement with Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc., effective March 1, for the construction, operation and supply of treated industrial wastewater for AMI’s Prosvita Sand Project, which borders Al-Pac’s industrial operations in Athabasca County, Alberta, Canada.
The agreement supports the Prosvita Project objective of establishing one of the greenest sand processing facilities in North America. Pending regulatory approval, a portion of Al-Pac’s treated industrial wastewater will be directed to and re-used by AMI at its neighboring operation for washing and hydrosizing its premium domestic sand into various products and byproducts needed for construction, energy, environmental and landscape applications.
The treated industrial wastewater used by AMI will be retained and recycled in a closed-loop system, with any make-up water resulting from evaporation (drying) losses to be incrementally added from Al-Pac’s treated industrial wastewater system.
In June 2021, Athabasca Minerals, through its subsidiary AMI Silica Inc., filed an application for regulatory approval with Alberta Environment & Parks to develop an 800,000 tonne/year wash-dry sand facility, known as the Prosvita Sand Project.
The Prosvita Project will process premium domestic sand from AMI’s White Tail Sand Deposit, situated in lands adjacent to Al-Pac’s industrial operations, and which contains at least 12 million tonnes of recoverable reserve.
Robert Beekhuizen, chief executive officer of AMI, said, “The agreement with Al-Pac identifies industrial synergies between Al-Pac’s pulp operation and AMI’s upcoming Prosvita Sand Project that are beneficial environmentally, operationally and economically. The integration of Al-Pac’s treated industrial wastewater into AMI’s sand operations is a key step in our sustainable development plan for the project. We look forward to advancing the Prosvita Project through detailed engineering and construction and bringing into operation over the next two to three years. Introducing premium domestic sand products from Prosvita’s operations will be good for the regional economy and customers as it augments the predominant supply of imported American sand with an equivalent, high-quality, local alternative.”