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St. Paul, Minn.

Photos: Farmland holds wealth in sand mining boom

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Sand mining
A miner drills holes in layers of rock where explosives will be placed and detonated to extract silica sand from the mine. Sand mining has become big business in recent years and mining companies are looking to expand their properties. Now some landowners are considering the option of selling or leasing their land to big companies who want to explore the area's natural resources and alternative forms of energy.
Special for MPR/Alex Kolyer

Minnesota farmland is increasingly luring companies that want to explore the earth beneath the soil. But some residents want to preserve the land and its current agricultural use.

Gallery
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Al Nelson
Al Nelson, plant manager at Wisconsin Industrial Sand Co. in Maiden Rock, Wis., watches a loader deposit sand onto a conveyor belt in the company's underground mine. Sand mining has become big business in recent years and mining companies are looking to expand their properties. Now some landowners are considering the option of selling or leasing their land to big companies who want to explore the area's natural resources and alternative forms of energy.
Special for MPR/Alex Kolyer
1 of 11
Sand mining
A miner drills holes in layers of rock where explosives will be placed and detonated to extract silica sand from the mine. Sand mining has become big business in recent years and mining companies are looking to expand their properties. Now some landowners are considering the option of selling or leasing their land to big companies who want to explore the area's natural resources and alternative forms of energy.
Special for MPR/Alex Kolyer
2 of 11
Mineral mining
A pillar showing layers of different minerals towers over a drilling machine in the mine. Silica sand has many applications, including being used in the process of extracting oil and natural gas through hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." Sand mining has become big business in recent years and mining companies are looking to expand their properties. Now some landowners are considering the option of selling or leasing their land to big companies who want to explore the area's natural resources and alternative forms of energy.
Special for MPR/Alex Kolyer