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Birch Mountain has an enviable position. Our Athabasca landholdings are in the midst of the booming oil sands industry that has created a robust demand for aggregate. The limestone on our property includes high-quality units, suitable for calcining into quicklime, of which oil sands operators will use an estimated 350,000 tonnes per year to treat air and water emissions. This gives us a strong position, as we own, through permits and leases, the rights to metallic and industrial minerals, of which the Quarry is a small part. Competitive sources of aggregate and quicklime are limited. Birch Mountain has the only high-quality limestone identified in the area, and controls virtually all surface-accessible limestone. Currently, quicklime is trucked from Southern Alberta, more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) away. Conversely, our plant will be minutes from many oil sands operations, reducing the cost to buyers and the environment, and increasing delivery reliability, an important factor as quicklime has a limited storage life. Birch Mountain has signed co-development agreements with all of the major oil sands mining companies in the area, including Syncrude, Suncor, Albian Sands and Canadian Natural Resources, and has strong ties to the local community.
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