Fracture sand provider Black Mountain Sand is expanding into the Anadarko Basin with construction underway on its sixth mine, the first outside Texas.

Once fully commissioned, the 1,290-acre Blaine County facility in western Oklahoma is expected to employ 75 people and produce 3 million tons/year of sand. Delivery of the first commercial tons is anticipated in January.

The Fort Worth, TX-based operator, which now has in-basin operations in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale, expects to have annual combined sand production capacity of 19 million-plus tons from six mining facilities once the new facility starts up.

“Since shipping our first truckload of sand in January 2018, our customers began asking for more,” said CEO Rhett Bennett. “To help meet this demand, we first expanded into the Eagle Ford Shale, while also increasing our annual capacity in the Permian.”

The latest expansion “means we can now deliver our product’s cost-savings benefit to our customers with operations in Oklahoma, helping strengthen their bottom line across multiple projects in multiple basins.”

The El Dorado and Vest mines in Winkler County, TX, which serve Permian operators, are approaching nameplate capacity of 10 million tons/year. Black Mountain is evaluating whether to add a fifth dryer at each location in the Permian to increase output to a combined 12 million tons/year.

The Eagle Ford sand operation in South Texas, sited on 2,300 acres in Atascosa County, is underway, with anticipated delivery of the first commercial tons by year’s end. Once fully commissioned, the Eagle Ford mine is expected to produce 2.2 million tons/year; total annual capacity already is sold out under long-term contracts.

In-basin fracture sand operations reduce costs and simplify last-mile logistics by cutting down on transport costs to job sites.

Black Mountain is supported by private equity firm Natural Gas Partners.