The low sulfur content in oil sands on Asphalt Ridge makes it even more desirable. Oil sands in Alberta, Canada, have high sulfur content.

The company's separation and reclamation process was designed by David Bower, who has spent the past 15 years designing, building and operating soil reclamation and cleanup projects in the global market, predominantly in Europe. These techniques have been used successfully in Europe for years.

"The Europeans are approximately 10 to 15 years ahead of us in the soil remediation industry because of the excessive environmental regulation," said Jim Runquist, a principal in Temple Mountain.

The commercial venture is of great importance, not only to TME's future in terms of economic success, technology development and production viability, but to the nation's future as it struggles to loosen the grip of dependence on foreign oil.

At its peak, the commercial plant will be able to produce 1,000 tons per hour of oil sands every hour. There is approximately half a barrel of bitumen oil per ton of oil sands. The recovery project has an estimated life span of 15 to 20 years.

While Temple Mountain is intent on helping the nation reduce dependence on foreign oil, they haven't put the proverbial eggs in one basket. "We didn't want to be locked into strictly the crude oil market," said Clynch. "We have a very good market for everything we can make."

Those products include:

• Raw oil sands ore. An estimated 400 billion tons are used mainly in roads and airport runways in the United States.

• Bitumen oil, used as a binder in asphalt pavement mix. Much bitumen oil used in the western United States now comes from Venezuela.

• Silica quartz sand, used as "frac sand" by the oil industry.

• Low-sulfur upgraded crude oil.

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E-mail: lezleewhiting@hotmail.com