It may not be gold, diamonds, or lithium, but HD minerals did find silica sand lying under the ground here in the southeast.

That was the news revealed at the first of three public information sessions in La Broquerie Tuesday evening held by Evolve Surface Strategies. The other two are to be held Wednesday in Anola and Thursday in Richer.

Silica sand is commonly used for ceramics, certain types of glass, solar panels, oil and gas fracking, and more. It is generally an aggregate type operation with a dry open pit that can create a lot of dust. However, in this case, Vice-President Trevor Martens explains the sand is found 200 feet below the surface in an aquifer below the limestone cap. Because of how deep it is, Martens says they will need to develop a new environmentally friendly closed pit extraction method that has never been done before.

Experts at the meeting said they believe it can be done without causing any issues for the residents of the area who draw water from the aquifer. 

In orange is the Den area and in blue is the Bru area.

Martens notes after two years of digging, they have concentrated their search to what they call the Bru and Den areas. The Den area is a large part of the RM of La Broquerie, a small section of the RM of Hanover, Reynolds, and Ste. Anne. The Bru area is a portion of the RM of Springfield, Tache and Ste. Anne.

Martens says they are still in the very early stages of the process and says it's too early to say where or when production can begin, noting they hope to stay near rail lines. "We're hoping to be close to rail to ensure that we can utilize that as our transportation model," he adds.

At this point, he indicates they are working on government approvals as well as completing more testing and consulting with experts to determine the most viable approach.

"We still are making sure that our rural municipality partners are on board and also the communities that we work in."

He adds over $45,000 in landowner payments have gone out for the locations they have been looking at. Wherever a future production facility would be located, Martens says that could definitely mean new jobs for the local community.

Martens adds they will be back to host more community meetings potentially later this year when they have more details to share with local residents and municipalities.

Read more:
Results Of Mystery Mineral Drilling To Be Made Public 
Mystery Mineral Exploration To Start Soon 
Southeast Mystery Mineral Potentially Gold