Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85648
Sierra Silica Resources opened its new Oroville, Calif., plant on Dec. 31, 2011. California operator upgrades plant to create higher- margin products for the specialty sand market. by Therese Dunphy, Editor-in-Chief n today's market, many operators are looking for ways to upgrade their operations, buy out partners, or simply tap into some of the business' equity without losing control of their asset. But bank lending conditions continue to be tight, and it takes a creative approach to make these goals a reality. Oroville, Calif.-based Sierra Silica Resources lever- aged just such creativity to transform a former con- struction sand and gravel site into a state-of-the-art silica sand production facility. I 28 AGGREGATES MANAGER May 2012 L evelUp ing silica level, iron levels, alumina levels, titanium, and all the oxides," says Travis Hoiseth, general manager. "They want to know everything that's in the sand because it affects their process on the other end." Several years ago, Chris VanVeldhuizen, owner and president of Sierra Silica Resources, was working with Clearwater Investments, an investment company that had owned the 1,200-acre reserve for approximately 12 years. Construction sand and gravel was being produced, but the deposit had a high-quality silica content that could be processed for higher-margin products. Extensive drilling of the deposit showed that the reserves had tremendous potential. "Our markets are very concerned about the chemistry content, includ- Test results showed that the reserves contained more than 60,000,000 tons of sand, with a silica con- tent of approximately 99 percent. Only one other per- mitted reserve in California had similar qualities in its deposit: Unimin Corp.'s operation in Ione. "Unimin was basically serving the entire California market," VanVeldhuizen says. "We thought there was an op- portunity for an independent, local producer to come in and take a part of that market share." But first, the plant had to go through extensive upgrades. "What was there before was basically an old wash plant. Essentially, they were taking steak and making hamburger out of it; that's the best way to describe it," VanVeldhuizen says. "To get this silica to a higher production volume and a higher-margin state, we had to not only wash it and scrub it more