Sand and Gravel Resources of the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Northeast Alberta - Phase I, Proposed Townsite Area

This study covers a site of the proposed new town on the east side of the Athabasca River, 88 km (55 mi) north of Fort McMurray, northeast Alberta. The most extensive deposit in the area is fine and fine to medium grained sand unsuitable for the aggregate production. In the Western portion of the site a few testholes encountered medium grained sand with a grain size distribution mainly within the grading limits for fine aggregates. In the southwestern corner of the townsite, near the crest of the slopes of the Athabasca River valley, two testholes penetrated fine to coarse, dirty to clean gravelly sand with the content of gravel between 15 and 20 percent. The distribution of the medium grained and gravelly sand is difficult to determine because they might vary considerably over short distances. Further drilling would be required to assess the potential of these deposits for further construction purposes.