Strict specifications: UK frac sand potential
By IM Staff
Published: Thursday, 28 May 2015
The UK is actively looking at the potential production of shale gas and, as a result, the country’s extractive minerals industry is looking at the role it can play in providing minerals that could be used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking). One such mineral is silica sand, which is used as a proppant, commonly referred to as “frac sand”. Clive Mitchell, Industrial Minerals Specialist, provides an educated guess as to where this frac sand could come from in the UK.
By Clive Mitchell
Frac sand is composed mainly of quartz grains. It is used in
the fracking process, hence the name "frac" sand. The sand is
entrained in water and is pumped under great pressure into
fractures created in the reservoir rock. The sand is packed
tightly into the fractures...