Mining company to locate in county; DRA approves $300K grant for road to proposed facility

A sand-mining company has received a $300,000 grant from the Delta Regional Authority to build a road to its facility, to be constructed in Cape Girardeau County, officials said.

A news release from Delta Regional Authority lists the project�s DRA investment as $315,277, with the total investment approximately $623,000.

�DRA�s investment will support construction of a public roadway for access to a new sandstone mine and manufacturing facility in northwest Cape Girardeau County. The plant is projected to create 80 new jobs and manufacture frac sand for the oil and natural gas industries,� the release stated.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission voted Oct. 11 to accept the grant, awarded for the Dominion Sand Plant MO-53977 project.

Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy was authorized to execute any documents pertaining to the grant, according to the meeting minutes.

Commissioner Paul Koeper said at the meeting the original plan was to construct the roadway across private property, and if the property owners agreed, the company would have a public road from Route B back to the plant.

The county will take no responsibility for maintaining the road, Koeper added.

In a phone interview, Koeper said the roadway would be built at the intersection of routes B and E, near Daisy, in northern Cape Girardeau County.

Koeper said it is his understanding the road will be a public road, and is between one-half and three-quarters mile long.

�This is not a state highway or county road,� Koeper said, adding the road will create a more efficient route to the highway.

Koeper said a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, company, Dominion Group, was the DRA grant applicant.

Koeper said this is a different company from Capital Sand Proppants near Millersville.

The motion to accept the grant was not on the county commission meeting agenda for Oct. 11.

Attempts to reach company representatives were unsuccessful.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630