The Komie showing is located 73 kilometres northeast of Fort Nelson near Komie and Brandt creeks. The Komie silica occurrence is situated primarily within the Alberta Plateau Region of the Interior Plains physiographic subdivision of British Columbia and the Fort Nelson Lowland.
Regionally, the area is underlain by mudstone, siltstone, shale and fine clastic sedimentary rocks of the Cretaceous Fort St. John Group and coarse clastic sedimentary rocks of the Upper Cretaceous Dunvegan Formation. Locally, glaciofluvial deposits containing granular silica sand and gravel occur.
There are three glacial systems that influenced the Komie area and two diamict units (glacial and glaciofluvial), each containing sand, gravel and two silt and clay packages. All surficial units overlie bedrock. The major surficial material in the area are the glacial deposits, typically 1 to 10 metres in thickness (ranging up to 170 metres thick) that are dense, clast-poor, silty clay diamicts.
Work History
In 2011, J.D. Bond examined and sampled the area to the northeast as the Etsho property.
In 2018, Sil Industrial Minerals, on behalf of 543077 Alberta Ltd. completed a program of surficial geological mapping, test pitting and sampling on the area as the Komie property. The primary focus of work was to evaluate the potential of silica deposits for industrial purposes, specifically for use as a hydraulic fracture proppant. Analysis of glaciofluvial deposits material showed that silica grain size, sphericity and roundness is potentially viable for use as a hydraulic fracturing (fracking) proppant. Testing of the silica sand indicated that it contains minor impurities (10 to 15 per cent) with a moderate roundness of 5 to 7, a high sphericity of 7 to 9 and 68 per cent grain size within the desired 40/70 and 100 mesh size range (Assessment Report 37920).
Samples were also analyzed for kimberlite indicator minerals (KIMs), including: garnets, chromite, diopside, ilmenite, and olivine. Washed samples were sieved to exclude fines smaller than the 16 mesh (1.18 mm). Minerals that had potential for being a KIM were labeled and retained for further analysis.
