Apparently, it is not so much a shortage of sand, but the complexity of economics behind mining and processing the right kinds of sand for different industrial purposes.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/opinion/the-worlds-disappearing-sand.html?_r=0
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/04/economist-explains-8

And Professor Google says so.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Hillman
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2017 4:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Sand becomintg a scarce global commodity??

Hi Steve - looked at the link, I see lots of words and zero references. If we are running out of sand, I would expect there to be some data backing up that claim.

Dave

On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 2:00 PM, Steve Gregory <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Interesting topic. Didn't know that sand was becoming this scarce. I 
> found
> this:
>
> http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/deadly-global-war-sand
>
> Steeve
>
> On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 12:52 PM, David Hillman <david.hillman@ 
> rockwellcollins.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Rich - I have a number of good references sources and do track 
>> this as a topic and that is the first time I have heard that silicon 
>> was an issue. I suspect they may be confusing fracking sand versus 
>> other sand type/applications as that is a hot topic. I would love to 
>> see their reference data as it sounds quite suspicious.
>>
>> Dave Hillman
>> Rockwell Collins
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 25, 2017 at 1:12 PM, Richard Kraszewski < 
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> > Last week I heard an interesting story  NPR  radio, claiming  that 
>> > there is an upcoming global scarcity of sand.
>> >
>> > Seems like most  good deposits are  being mined out for concrete.  
>> > This
>> is
>> > starting to  become a  concern for  people such as silicon wafer
>> producers
>> > amongst others.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Anyone  hear  anything similar?
>> >
>> >
>> > Rich  Kraszewski
>> > Senior Staff Process Engineer
>> > Plexus Engineering Solutions
>> >
>> >
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> Steve Gregory
> Kimco Design and Manufacturing
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