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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Quartz-rich sand on the North Arm of Great Slave Lake is the focus of investors and environmentalists as the sun sets on a mineral claim staked at Whitebeach Point.

Caribou moss is a slow-growing lichen that can take decades to regenerate if disturbed. - photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Aurora Geosciences, a Yellowknife-based consulting and contracting company with offices in Juneau, Alaska and Whitehorse, has until the end of the year to either work to develop its December 2011 claim or pay in lieu to extend it for another year, as stipulated by the NWT Mining Act.

The fine, uniform sand, or silica - found on Crown land approximately 44 kilometres from Yellowknife - is coveted for industrial purposes, including use in hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."

The strong silica grains are added to frac fluids during petroleum exploration to hold rock fractures open, improving the flow of gas or oil. Demand for frac sand increased sharply about four years ago as unconventional drilling became more widespread in North America. Each hydraulic fracturing well can require thousands of tonnes of sand.

Aurora Geosciences staked the claim shortly after the GNWT began studying the economic potential of numerous silica sites throughout the territory, including the high-quality silica at Whitebeach Point.

A 2012 report commissioned by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and managed by the NWT Geoscience Office, determined that development of frac sand extraction would not only produce economic investment from companies wishing to export silica to fracking operations in British Columbia, but it may also assist the development of fracking projects in the NWT by eliminating the costly transport of large volumes of silica from the south.

Whitebeach Point provides for easy transport by barge and winter road, the report states.

Dave White, vice-president of Aurora Geosciences, said the company has no defined strategy to develop the site, but a plan will be determined by the December deadline.

"We've just staked it based on its potential," he said, adding the company is not working on behalf of a client.

"Sometimes, we stake ground for clients and sometimes we stake ground for our own interests based on the speculative nature of it."

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley, who used to hunt woodland caribou, unsuccessfully, near Whitebeach Point in his early 20s, said he is concerned about what industrial development would do to the fragile ecosystem at Whitebeach Point.

"Woodland caribou are known to be one of the principle species occupying that area, but I don't think studies have been done to assess what other species are there," Bromley said.

"We do know that it's very sensitive to disturbance. It's got a very thick, pristine layer of caribou lichen, or caribou moss, sitting on the sand. It takes very little disturbance to remove it."

Bromley said an ATV driver who criss-crossed part of the beach many years ago left tracks that are still visible today, almost as clearly as the day they were made.

The sand extends for hundreds of metres from shore, and as much as a kilometre from shore in some places, he said, adding old pine trees also grow in the region.

"As we slowly become aware -more and more people, organizations and communities - of the sorts of impacts that can be anticipated, I think we will see concern mounting," he said, adding he plans to pose questions about the site to Industry Minister David Ramsay when the legislative assembly resumes in October.

White said he recognizes some people are concerned the land has been acquired for its mineral potential, but it may come to pass that no development takes place at the site.

"There are a number of scenarios for that property," he said. "One of which is that nobody's interested in it and then we decide we don't want to do anything with it and then nothing happens."

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