With three research areas in Southeastern Manitoba, CanWhite Sands is positioned to become the most environmentally friendly silica sand producer in North America.

However, Chief Operating Officer Brent Bullen says misinformation on social media is creating unnecessary anxiety among residents, and he wants to set the record straight.

'There’s been an incorrect reading of the facility’s permit,' says Bullen. 'Everybody thinks we're going to contaminate the groundwater, but we’re not a conventional mine.'

Bullen says people think CanWhite Sands will produce sand at only 15%, which is not the case.

'They’ve misunderstood how the transportation loop is used to move sand from the harvest points to the facility,' says Bullen. 'We harvest sand as high as 90% by volume and with our ability to leave the water in the formation using a patent-pending process we can achieve a net-zero water draw.'

Bullen has come across social media posts speculating that CanWhite Sands will consume 7.7 million cubic meters of water. Another one assumed it would be 10 million cubic meters. Still, another said CanWhite would wash the sand twice, wasting up to 15 million cubic meters of water.

'That’s an incorrect calculation,' says Bullen. 'We’ve put an application in for a facility that consumes only 200 to 300 gallons a day of water.'

Bullen says that nowhere in their process will CanWhite Sands discharge any water on the surface.

'We don't have tailing ponds, we don't have surface discharge,' says Bullen. 'We do not use acid in our processing or cause acid leaching and we are in a different geological member from other sand producers in Manitoba. What is not understood is we have the ability to harvest the sand and leave the aquifer water in place.'

People on social media have been sharing opinions that CanWhite Sands will have a massive pull of water on the aquifer, but Bullen details how this is incorrect.

Bullen says the only consumption in the extraction, processing, and movement of the sand will be the water loss due to evaporation when it’s in the working pile. All the other water is recycled and contained.

'There’s no wastewater,' says Bullen. 'Our water consumption is limited to evaporation, sinks and toilets and that's negligible.'

'At the harvest point, the sand goes into a water transportation loop at 15% sand by volume,' says Bullen. 'The water in the loop already exists as we recycle the water, kind of like a waterslide. The slide always has water flowing through it. The rider merely enters the slide, rides the water, and exits when the trip is over. Then the water returns to pick up and transport more. The closed-loop is like a waterpark ride for the sand, from the harvest site to the facility."

Not only does CanWhite Sands represent environmentally friendly processes, but the project will also bring employment and economic growth to the region.

'The facility represents 50 full-time jobs,' says Bullen. 'It also represents a minimum 250 support-related jobs with companies that would be required to support our operations.'

Bullen says the mineralogy and the purity in the deposit by Vivian is higher than what you find elsewhere throughout North America, making it perfect for high-end products.

'People don't realize 10 per cent of a Tesla is silica,' says Bullen. 'Our mineralogy provides acceptable feedstock materials for industries such as rechargeable batteries and aluminum alloys. We are sending our sand samples to users in North America and outside of North America to be tested for high-quality optical glass. It allows us to access markets globally for this quality of sand and attract high-tech investment to Manitoba resulting in thousands of new potential jobs.
Bullen says this project serves as an incubator of economic development within Manitoba.

'We're a resource that feeds so many industries,' says Bullen. 'This resource has the ability to draw further investment into Manitoba to bring this product into the new carbon-zero environmentally friendly renewable energy markets.'

Bullen says that this resource combined with Manitoba’s green Hydro Energy and key positioning in North America allows road access to markets throughout 90% of North America within just two days, Manitoba is on the cusp of a great economic growth with CanWhite Sands.

'Our facility will be an 80-million-dollar investment,' says Bullen. 'But that's just a small part of the other investment opportunities that could follow.'