Sand Challenges

[Mike_Young]

My bet is that as the price of sand goes up, so will its supply. 

I think this is very true-see timber in the southeast(though lumber has recently skyrocketed due to the lag effect)

The timber thing is interesting...as newspapers got smaller then pine prices went down but now amazon is the top buyer for Westvaco and International paper...it used to be that grocery stores were the main user of cardboard and it was easy to pick up the used board and reprocess but now we all have garages full of cardboard because an economical way of reusing has not been figured yet.  Cardboard is the new brick and mortar.  Amazon will buy a cardboard manufacturer before it is over...and so the pine tree will go on...and on...

[SL_Solow]

Lou,  I agree with your supply/demand analysis.  The difference is that pine trees are a relatively quick growing renewable resource.  As trees are cut down, they are replanted and they are pretty "green".  Sand is different in that we aren't making any more and sand quarries make the property unusable for other purposes until they are abandoned.  So the analogy is not precise

[David_Tepper]

Jeremy Grantham, one of the smartest guys I know of in the investment business, thinks owning a timber forest is one of the best long-term investments you can make.


https://www.moneyshow.com/articles/dailyguru-54679/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/business/mutfund/forests-are-a-treasure-but-are-they-good-investments.html