Silica sand: Characteristics
Silica, iron and grain shape: the specs that set price
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 430 Mt world (2025e); US 120 Mt, China 92 Mt, Netherlands 68 Mt, India 12 Mt | The US is the largest producer and consumer, and about 81% of US tonnage is frac sand. US high-purity quartz (HPQ) from Spruce Pine was about 100,000 t in 2025. | USGS MCS 2026 (Sand and gravel, industrial; Quartz) |
| Inventory and stock levels | not published; no exchange or strategic stocks of sand | Stocks are mine and transload stockpiles, typically days to weeks of frac demand. In-basin wet sand cannot be stored long. The US government stockpile held quartz crystal only, with 7,127 kg listed for potential disposal in FY2025. | USGS MCS 2026 (Quartz) |
| Capacity utilisation | not published; US frac sand in oversupply in 2025 | USGS reports an oversupply of frac sand that cut prices and idled some operations in 2025, with US output down 5% to 120 Mt and the average value down to about $36/t. About 45 Mt a year of Northern White capacity had already left the market by early 2020 (Rystad). | USGS MCS 2026; Rystad via Wisconsin Public Radio, Jan 2020 |
| Geographic and producer concentration | US about 28%, top-3 (US, China, Netherlands) about 66%, HHI about 1,600 (2025, country data) | Derived from USGS 2025 country output. Within US frac sand, Atlas Energy Solutions moved 21.6 Mt in 2025; other leaders (U.S. Silica, Covia, Sibelco) do not publish volumes. HPQ is far more concentrated: Spruce Pine (Sibelco, The Quartz Corp) dominates ultra-high-purity supply. | USGS MCS 2026; Atlas Energy Solutions 2025 results |
| Supply elasticity | high for frac and glass sand (new in-basin mines in about 1-2 years); low for HPQ | Deposits are widespread, so supply responds quickly: the Permian in-basin shift reached about 85% adoption within two years of 2018. HPQ needs rare pegmatite deposits and complex purification, and China's 35 Mt HPQ reserve claims (2025) test at only 99.995-99.998% purity. | Rystad via WPR 2020; USGS MCS 2026 (Quartz) |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | US HPQ expansions; Permian conveyor logistics | Both US HPQ producers continued capacity expansions in 2025 (USGS). Atlas's Dune Express conveyor moved 5.9 Mt in 2025. Capacity numbers and CapEx for glass sand projects are not published. | USGS MCS 2026; Atlas Energy Solutions 2025 results |
| Logistics and export flows | mostly consumed locally; US exported 8 Mt (about 7% of output) in 2025; HS 2505 trade $2.4 billion in 2024 | Freight often exceeds the mine-gate price: rail and transload from Wisconsin to Texas cost $50-60/t against mine-gate prices near $25/t (Rystad 2020). US export value was 37.7% of the world total; Singapore, Canada and China were the top importers. Rail and trucking capacity, not ports, are the bottleneck. | USGS MCS 2026; UN Comtrade 2024; Rystad via WPR 2020 |
Material characteristics Industrial mineral
Industrial sand is quartz sold to a specification. Silica content and iron oxide set glass grades. Grain shape, size and crush strength set frac sand grades. Trace impurities in parts per million set high-purity quartz grades, which can be worth hundreds of times more per tonne. Particle size distribution matters for every use, from foundry moulds to filtration.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purity / grade | Glass sand typically at least 99.5% SiO2; HPQ below 100 ppm total impurities (99.99%), ultra-high-purity below 10 ppm | Sets glass clarity and whether quartz can make crucibles for solar and semiconductor silicon | USGS MCS 2026 (Quartz); BS 2975 / industry practice (indicative) |
| Iron oxide (Fe2O3) | Flint container glass about 0.03% or less; low-iron solar and float glass about 0.01-0.015% or less | Iron tints glass green and cuts light transmission in solar panels | Industry specifications (indicative) |
| Crush resistance (frac sand) | K-value rating, e.g. 6K = less than 10% fines at 6,000 psi | Sets the depth and closure stress the proppant can withstand | API RP 19C / ISO 13503-2 |
| Sphericity and roundness (frac sand) | at least 0.6 (Krumbein scale) | Round grains pack with higher conductivity for oil and gas flow | API RP 19C / ISO 13503-2 |
| Particle size | Frac: 20/40, 30/50, 40/70, 100 mesh; glass about 20-140 mesh; foundry AFS grain fineness 40-140 | Different uses need narrow, different size cuts | API RP 19C; AFS (indicative) |
| Acid solubility and turbidity (frac) | acid solubility at most 2-3%; turbidity at most 250 NTU | Limits fines and carbonate impurities that damage wells | API RP 19C / ISO 13503-2 |
| Hardness | Mohs 7 | Allows use as abrasive and in wear-resistant products; also creates crystalline silica dust hazard | Standard mineral data |