About us
About Rick Frick
Minnesota Sands was founded in 2012 by Richard Frick, a resident of Houston, Minnesota, who grew up on a dairy farm in Southeastern Minnesota.
His vision is to create a Minnsota-based company that can develop and execute a mining plan that respects the environment, creates high-paying, quality jobs in the area, and ensures as many people as possible in the area can share in the benefits from what is an important and valuable natural resource.
"Minnesota has a strong history for generations of being able to responsibly use the resources we have here to support families accros the state," Frick says. "My vision is to create a company that will make sure Minnesota can continue this legacy that will help families who need jobs and communities in our region that need new investment and activity."
Rick has experience in farming, trucking, agricultural transportation, logistics, and facilities operatons. Rick brought together his experience working in transportation and logistics with his knowledge of local geology as he developed plans for the company. In 2011, Frick began identifying and testing potential sand mine sites. This testing and evaluation found sand from certain sites to have qualities and characteristics that make it ideal for use in hydraulic fracturing
Frick has been able to bring together a group of local landowners to be partners and investors in the company. He also has spent a great deal of time bringing together a team of engineers, planners, and other experts to help create the plan for Minnesota Sands and to lead the effort to secure the permits and approvals that are needed to allow operations to begin.
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About Minnesota Sands
Minnesota Sands is a Minnesota-owned company that is in the process of obtaining the approvals from regulatory agencies necessary to moving forward with plans to provide custom natural sand proppants. These high quality Minnesota quartz and substrates would serve customers in the oil and natural gas industries.
The company is committed to making sure a Minnesota natural resource is developed in a way that respects the environment while also making sure local communities benefit through the creation of good paying, steady jobs. This commitment includes making sure that mine sites and operations locations are remediate and restored to the highest possible leevl upon completion of work.
Minnesota Sands' leadership, investors, and others working on the project are from Minnesota and are committed to making sure the company and its operations are managed in a way that reflects this connection to the community.
Minnesota Sands holds leases to land with over 100 million estimated tons of monocrystalline silica sand meeting American Petroleum Institute (API) specifications for use as a proppant in the hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells.
Minnesota Sands' leadership team has 20 years of experience in the industry that includes specific expertise in mining, sand processing, environmental science and engineering, logistics, and fiscal management. The company is supported by significant investor resources to make sure it will be able to meet community and industry needs for many years.
