Some Fracking Sand Was ‘Revolutionary,’ or Maybe It Was Just Sand

One by one, four employees of Fairmount Santrol were ushered into a cramped hotel conference room in Stafford, Texas, where they took turns explaining to their bosses why they thought the company was committing fraud. Some of the proprietary sand it was selling, they said, wasn’t so special.

Sand? During the shale boom, this simple-sounding stuff was a hot commodity. Drillers use sand and water deep underground to blast hydrocarbons from rocks in the process known as fracking, and Fairmount was selling specially manufactured sand, including one product that was touted as “revolutionary.” After the May 2017 meetings, nothing much changed in the way the business operated, attendees say. But others were watching, too. This summer the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission informed the company, now called Covia Holdings Corp., that it was considering enforcement action.