The oil and gas industry can’t get enough sand. U.S. Silica Holdings Inc., which mines sand that can be used in hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells, sold 1.3 million tons of sand to the energy industry during the first quarter–a 45% increase over the same period last year. That helped fuel the company’s 6% boost in quarterly profit to $18.4 million, or 34 cents per share. In fact, U.S. Silica’s energy customers are asking for new contracts seeking four to five times as much sand as they’re currently buying. The demand for finer grained sand is even cutting into supplies available to make glass and high-tech products. During the fracking process, millions of pounds of sand are pumped into wells to hold open fissures in rock formations that contain crude oil and natural gas. Grains of a special variety of sand found in northern states like Wisconsin, […]