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Last week, officials from Coated Sand Solutions and the city of Rochelle announced the company will build a rail-served resin coating facility in the northwest Illinois city.

To be built in phases beginning in September 2012, the $40 million facility will be located south of Interstate 88 on Steward Road. The plant will produce resin-coated frac sand used during the horizontal drilling process at various shales nationwide.

“We are an industry that depends on rail access and Rochelle offers excellent rail service through the City Rail System to both [BNSF Railway Co.] and Union Pacific Railroad,” said Coated Sands Solutions Plant Manager Joe Ebens in a prepared statement.

The city owns City Industrial Rail, a short line that interchanges with BNSF and UP. The facility is expected to triple the short line’s rail-car switching volume.

The Rochelle facility will be Coated Sand Solutions’ first plant and will use a-quartz mined from existing U. S. Silica Co. deposits in nearby areas, according to the company.