U.S. Silica to develop UP-served frac sand facility in Wisconsin

U.S. Silica Holdings Inc. yesterday announced it received approval from the town of Fairchild, Wis., to begin developing a frac sand mine and plant near the town.

To be served by Union Pacific Railroad, the 650-acre facility is projected to produce 3 million tons of frac sand annually. The mine and plant is anticipated to become operational by fourth-quarter 2015.

"We had tremendous input from the community in helping develop a project that will meet the high environmental and compliance standards we set for ourselves as a company," said Bryan Shinn, U.S. Silica's president and chief executive officer, in a press release. "This is an important step in our plan to bring on additional new capacity to meet customers' rapidly growing needs for high quality, Northern White frac sand in all of the major shale basins in the U.S."