The 17-003A Silica Property is located along the southeast side of Pine River, 25 kilometres southwest of Fort St. John and 50 kilometres northeast of Chetwynd, B.C. The property covers a greater than 16 kilometre long northeast trend of silica deposit potential.

The property contains significant inactive dune formations. The geological conditions and weathering process that created these dunes provided natural mechanical sorting and rounding of silica grains, offering potential for a viable granular silica deposit for use as proppant. Prospecting and geological surveys determined that a silica deposit is present, while targeted drilling helped delineate the total extent of this deposit and provided more detailed lithologic data. An analysis of silica content, grain size, sphericity, and roundness determined that the silica is potentially viable for use as hydraulic fracture proppant.

Hicken et al. (2010) completed a preliminary assessment of silica sources in northeast British Columbia to determine their potential as hydraulic fracture proppant. Silica sources within the property are from the Lower Pine River dune field. Well-developed parabolic dunes in the property area are likely derived from sandy glaciofluvial and glacial till sediments associated with the Cordilleran Ice Sheet (Hicken, et al. 2010).

2017 exploration by 543007 Alberta Ltd. consisted of sampling of some of the silica deposits. All of the 27 samples showed that 89% of the material falls within the 40/70 and 100 mesh size range.

2018 exploration by 543007 Alberta Ltd. consisted of 36 hand auger holes ranging in depth from 0 to 8.5 m and a total of fifty-nine samples were collected. Sieve results showed that greater than 50% of the material passed through the 70 mesh sieve, signifying that the majority of the deposit on the property is finer than 70 mesh. The resulting analyses show that the deposit is comprised of 70% of grains that fall within the 40/70 and 100 mesh size range (Assessment Report 37973).

2019 exploration, including the exploration results from 2017 and 2018, along with additional geological review, identified the property as having mineral resource potential. This included the completion of 31 test holes and the analysis of 12 samples. A pre-disturbance assessment was also undertaken on Mineral Claims 1056334 and 1056333, during which the same 31 test-hole sites were evaluated for their landscape, wetland, soil, and vegetation characteristics (Assessment Report 38868).

In 2020, a further 9 targeted auger holes were drilled and 37 samples collected for analyses Assessment Report 39094). The post-2020 breakdown of physical properties for the deposit are as follows:

Impurities: Moderate 10-15% (CaO, Al2O3, Fe2O3)

Grain Size: 81% falls within the desired 40/70 and 100 mesh size range

Colour: Light Brown to Light Grey

Roundness: Moderately Rounded: 5-7, average 6

Sphericity: Moderate 5-8, average 6.5

Clusters: Rare

Fracturing: Moderate

Silica (SiO2) content: Low to Moderate; 75 to 81%