Yesterday, we had the opportunity to stop by the Cyber Square mine site for a tour. Thank you to Marcus Morton, and the whole team for the invitation! The site is beautifully located along the Red River just south of downtown Shreveport where they dredge the river to obtain their sand supply. This sand mining is actually providing benefits to the community as it helps the Army Corps of Engineers to mitigate flooding that devastated the area less than a decade ago.
While Infill Thinking published some in-depth research from their visit last month (read here), we wanted to share our high-level takeaways from our visit.
- They are in the middle of a serious expansion project. They are in the process of installing another wet plant, conveyors to move sand more efficiently onsite, and new loadout units to increase how much volume they can handle. They shared with us some of their next stage of growth plans, and it is evident that they are committed to being Haynesville’s top wet sand producer for years to come.
- Obsessed with sand quality. Starting with a very clean supply washed down the river, they wash and screen out the remaining sand and have organized their entire operations to ensure that sand has a very low turbidity all the way until the moment it gets loaded onto a box or trailer. Respecting their operational privacy, we won’t detail it; however, were impressed by the amount of emphasis on ensuring their customers can trust their quality.
- They have built their business with wet sand in mind. Co-founder, Denzil Blount, has been sand mining this area for decades and is the first mine wet-sand only mine built for that purpose. When we asked what makes them so bullish on the strategy, they pointed out the increased investment in LNG as well as what they see as the logic of using wet sand from an E&P cost perspective.
- ESG is not a gimmicky trend for them; it’s integrated in the fabric of their operations. Their care and investment in the community was evident. After pulling up, they pointed out the hay bales they donate to local farmers that were colored like American flags. They allow their property to be home to dozens of bee hives and gave us some delicious samples (which my wife certainly appreciated). Also, they allow the local sheriffs offices to use their docks for river rescues and investigations. All in all, we were both pleased and impressed with their team.
If you are interested in chatting with their team, co-founder Marcus Morton will be speaking at the Frac Sand Conference next month. It’s a great opportunity to meet up with their team.
P.S. if you are interested in hosting our team for a site visit, let us know when you’re at the conference so that we can get you on the calendar for H1 ’25.