Alico explores for commodity

LA BELLE — Land owned by Alico Inc. in Hendry County may contain up to 94 million tons of fracturing, or “frac” sand, a type of silica sand used by energy companies to extract oil and gas from reservoirs.

Alico will conduct additional feasibility studies on the land to obtain two key pieces of information. First, the firm must learn more about the quality of the sand, which varies greatly among samples. Second, Alico must evaluate the potential costs associated with delivering the sand from its Hendry County land to the market.

Curtis Wilker, a representative with Mississippi Sand LLC, which operates a nationwide delivery network for frac sand, confirmed that Alico has a long way to go before profiting from its recent discovery.

In a release announcing its preliminary discovery, Alico said it would also consider leasing the land to a third-party developer.