Source was featured in an article on the state of the Wisconsin frac sand industry in the Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley’s leading news source since 1881. Here is an excerpt from the article:
After more than a decade of alternating boom-and-bust cycles, the regional frac sand industry appears to be stabilizing — at least for now.
That’s the assessment of UW-Eau Claire geology professor Kent Syverson, who also serves as a consultant for the frac sand industry. “It’s adjusted now to a different base level. Now it’s kind of in equilibrium I would say,” Syverson said.
While he doesn’t expect the industry ever to go back to the way it was from 2011 to 2014 when new mines and processing plants were popping up like dandelions across west-central Wisconsin to take advantage of the region’s silica sand reserves, Syverson said the surviving facilities seem to have found reliable markets for their sand ,including some that shifted to producing for other industries such as glassmaking.
