The Agency’s Silica Proposal Sets Off Industry Alarm Bells.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposal by its Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to amend current federal standards to “better protect the nation’s miners from health hazards related to exposure to respirable crystalline silica, or silica dust.” The proposed rule change will ensure miners have at least the same level of protections as workers in other…

Read More

This Week’s Market Buzz

• The possibility of a renewed demand for western Wisconsin’s frac sand in 2017 was discussed on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The West Side” program on Dec. 12 on 88.3 WHWC-FM/ Menomonie-Eau Claire and 88.7 WRFW-FM/ River Falls. Host Rich Kremer was joined by guests Rich Budinger, operations manager for Fairmont Santrol, and Samir Nangia, a director of consulting with IHS Energy…

Read More

Superior Silica Acquires Reserves

Superior Silica Sands LLC (SSS), a subsidiary of Emerge Energy Services LP, announced that it has completed the acquisition of approximately 94 million tons of high-quality northern white silica sand reserves in Jackson County, Wis., from a subsidiary of Performance Technologies LLC (PTL), which is wholly owned by Seventy Seven Energy Inc.

Read More

This Week’s Market Buzz

A Texas based frac sand mining company is backing out of plans to develop a 1,600 acre mine and processing plant in Trempealeau County, Wis. Over the last year, Superior Silica Sands has been in the process of developing a plant between the cities of Independence and Arcadia. As part of the project, Independence annexed the property, but controversy about…

Read More

This Week’s Market Buzz

Superior Silica Sands (SSS) announced that it will no longer pursue the construction of a silica sand processing facility in Independence, Wis. “This was a difficult but necessary decision,” said Rick Shearer, chief executive officer of parent company Emerge Energy and SSS. “Given current economic conditions affecting the frac sand industry as a whole, as well as the specific mining…

Read More

Frac Sand Company Files Petition with Supreme Court

Minerals Development & Supply Co. Inc. has filed a supplement to its Petition of Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court. This supplement will give the Supreme Court an opportunity to address whether the venue provisions of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) can be procedurally applied in state court proceedings, an issue that has been debated amongst legal…

Read More