Ohio's Fracking Sandman

If you thought as I did, that sand was sand think again. Ohio's sandman, Rob Sidley has a special sand that it fetches from $60 to $80 a ton. It is almost 100% silica, is round in shape, very hard and in much demand as fracking sand. When a well is fracked high pressure water is used to crack the shale formation to allow gas or oil to escape. To keep the shale from closing the fracture once the hydraulic pressure has been removed sand and sometimes ceramic material is forced into the fracture to act as wedges. The sand must be exceedingly hard to withstand the pressure. The round shape means the sand will flow almost like water as would say a tube of BB's. The one hundred percent quartz feature makes the sand almost impervious to reaction with water or other chemical. Sidley's family owned company is located in Thompson, Ohio. It takes from 6000 to 8000 tons of sand to frack just one well so this man is in an enviable position. This story is a good read and you can find it at Ohio Com.