An Alberta contractor, who has made his millions playing in the sand, wants to take his expertise to the La Ronge area where he plans to open a silica pit mine that could inject $5 billion into the local economy and generate more than a 1,000 jobs.
Camilo Garcia is moving full steam ahead, but is making sure locals have their say before the dust starts to fly. Garcia has already acquired the mineral rights to about 43 square kilometres of Crown land, which sits on top of more than 300 million tons of unusually pure silica sand, about 40 kilometers south of La Ronge.
The sand is widely used in the construction industry, as well as for things like ceramics, glass, computer chips and even solar panels. Garcia says the startup costs for the mine will be around $300 million, but the long-term investment, which includes making the facility solar powered, will be in the billions.
“It will be $5 billion, and it will put people to work all over Canada,” he said.
Garcia says he has investors and he has customers, he just needs to put them together. He also wants to build support for the plan. The company has already received a letter of support from town council. On January 31, it will hold a town hall meeting in La Ronge to discuss the plan. Garcia says there will also be discussions with First Nations groups.
“Most people that I have talked to are happy because of the jobs,” he said. “The town is closing down, it’s dying, mines are being closed down, hundreds of jobs have been lost at the mines, but this (the silica mine) is the hope for the future.”
The only concern Garcia says he has heard so far is the impact the mine could have on the local wild mushroom crop. Garcia says the actual mine site will be less than 125 acres, while the mushrooms grow on thousands of acres.
A group of scientists will study the area this spring to get an idea of how the mine might impact wildlife and vegetation. It will then be determined if an environmental impact study is needed.
Garcia says if all goes well, the first truckload of silica could hit the road after the summer.
(PHOTO: La Ronge. Photo courtesy of tourismsaskatchewan.com)