Athabasca Minerals Inc. reports that its recent acquisition Aggregates Management Inc. (AMI), sold a massive 11.83 million tonnes of sand and gravel from the Susan Lake Gravel Pit for the year ended November 30, 2008. 

The Susan Lake Gravel Pit is situated approximately 85 km north of Fort McMurray and straddles the oil sands operations of three major oil sands companies. The pit is approximately 9,262 acres in size and the current area of development covers approximately 1,200 acres of the deposit. 

Oil sands companies are said to be among the biggest users of the pit as they require large volumes of gravel to build and expand their infrastructure and also maintain the network of roads used to haul oil sands from the extraction point to upgrading & refining facilities on their respective leases. Significant amounts of sand and gravel from the Susan Lake Gravel Pit were also utilized for various infrastructure developments in the City of Fort McMurray. These aggregates were used primarily as concrete, asphalt and road base aggregates. 

Company president and CEO Dom Kriangkum reports that the company’s best month was September 2008 in which a total of 2.1 million tonnes of sand and gravel was sold. October sales were 1.6 million tonnes and the year was closed off in November with 1.9 million tonnes sold.

Athabasca Minerals Inc. is the manager of the public Susan Lake pit where a number of different companies may be extracting material at any one time.