New Sand Procesing Plant Being Built in Perry County

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Construction began this week at a 165-acre site in west Perry County to build a new plant that will process resin-coated sand for the nation's natural gas industry.

When construction of the multi-million dollar plant is finished next spring Southern Precision Sand, Inc. could employ between 50-60 residents.

The sand is being mined outside Perryville, Mo. by Proppant Specialists, Inc. and will be shipped to the old Captain Mine site by truck and rail to the plant on acreage now owned by Midwest Transload, Inc. a rail loading facility.

The sand will be used in a natural gas capturing system known as "fracking."

Explosives are placed into natural gas well holes. The explosions create cracks (fissures) deep below the earth's surface. This very fine resin-coated sand is pumped into those cracks under pressure.

Because the sand granules are both round and resin-coated for strength , the sand keeps the cracks from closing and allows natural gas to flow to the natural gas well heads where it is captured.

Construction of the plant comes on the heels of Arch Coal, Inc.'s announcement earlier this week it will build a new 200-employee underground in northern Perry County by the year 2015.

Southern Precision Sand, Inc. has been granted a zoning change from "agricultural use" to "commercial use" from the county board.

Construction involves building a huge concrete truck parking facility, the processing plant where the resin coating is applied (which required Illinois EPA air quality emission permits), a large gravity-fed silo surrounded by a containment (storage) facility with 70-foot sidewalls, a laboratory and offices. Once the first tower is constructed, there are plans for a second tower to the southeast of the first. Zoellner Construction Co. is the general contractor and West Texas Concrete is doing the concrete work because this kind of facility is an expert in this type of construction. Local contractors and vendors will be involved the work, in time. The companies have promised more information in the coming days.