Hi-Crush Proppants LLC, celebrated the opening of its third production facility located near Whitehall, Wis. The governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker and several local officials, including representatives from Independence, Wis., and the Town of Lincoln, Wis., attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony and community appreciation event.
The Whitehall mine and processing facility is Hi-Crush’s third facility in Wisconsin, and is located on CN’s North American rail network. Hi-Crush Partners LP, or Hi-Crush Partners, an integrated producer, transporter, marketer and distributor of high-quality monocrystalline sand, recently announced the expansion of the capacity of the Whitehall facility to 2.6 million tpy.
“Our business model emphasizes partnership with the local community,” said James M. Whipkey, co-chief executive officer of Hi-Crush. “We know that our operations have a positive impact on the economy of Whitehall, and that it takes a shared effort to succeed. The expanded Whitehall facility will ensure Hi-Crush’s ability to meet the needs of our customers, who are continuing to demand higher volumes of our sand and an increasing amount of our services.”
“CN’s network reach allows Hi-Crush to efficiently reach the Marcellus, Utica and Bakken shales. We believe that the Hi-Crush Whitehall facility is a perfect complement to Hi-Crush Partners’ two currently operating mine and processing facilities located on the Union Pacific rail lines in Wyeville and Augusta, and will give us greater flexibility to better serve customers in all major North American shale plays,” said Jay Alston, chief operating officer of Hi-Crush.
JJ Ruest, CN executive vice-president and chief marketing officer, said: “We are pleased to provide rail transportation for this new world-class Hi-Crush production plant. With our agenda of Operational and Service Excellence – aimed at finding the best balance between high levels of operating efficiency, safety, and improved customer service – CN is focused on creating the right supply-chain connection between Hi-Crush in Wisconsin and oil and gas shales in the United States and Canada. Our origin-to-destination service mindset is aimed at helping our customers become more competitive in their end markets and positioning CN to grow its businesses at low incremental cost.”