Minnesota, Wisconsin frac sand mines crushed by oil industry shifts

Frac sand miner Jordan Sands in North Mankato was pushed into receivership recently after its banker declared a loan default. A few months earlier, Minnesota’s largest frac sand producer by far, the Kasota mine near St. Peter, was idled.

In western Wisconsin, 10 frac sand processing plants have closed over the past 18 months. That’s one-third of the industry’s dry sand milling capacity, said Kent Syverson, a geology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a sand-industry consultant.

Many other Wisconsin frac sand operations were operating well below capacity at the beginning of March, he added...
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Ken Notes: Remember sand is a bankable commodity with a million year shelf life. The industry can shut down for years and quickly restart when oil prices rebound.