Hi-Crush Proppants liquidating Whitehall frack sand mine

WHITEHALL, Wis. (AP) — A company that was once one of Wisconsin’s biggest producers of frack sand s liquidating one of four state mines.

Hi-Crush Proppants in Whitehall opened in 2014 and had a production capacity of 3 million tons of frack sand per year. Demand for Wisconsin’s northern white sand was high because of its uniformity and strength. The sand is used in hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas.

But in recent years, oil companies started using cheaper sand found closer to oil wells, saving as much as $60 per ton by ending shipments from Wisconsin.

Heritage Global Partners has started accepting bids for Hi-Crush’s Whitehall sand production facility. It’s essentially a liquidation sale of the operation or individual pieces of equipment, Wisconsin Public Radio reported. Hi-Crash declared bankruptcy last year.