Founders of Apex Petroleum Engineering, the Denver-based energy services company, partner with proppant and materials veterans to build 2 million ton frac sand plant to serve the DJ basin.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Feb. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Apex 70 Sand, LLC ("Apex 70") has received the Use by Special Review ("USR") permit from the Weld County Board of County Commissioners to advance a 2 million ton per year frac sand facility in the DJ Basin, announced David Bieber, geologist, mining operations specialist, and co-founder. The proposed facility changes the equation for frac sand in the DJ. The hard parts to mining frac sand in Colorado — quality reserves, high capacity permitting, and sufficient water — we've already solved. As for logistics, the math is straight forward. Rail-shipped Northern White sand carries extra transportation costs per ton per mile to DJ well sites.
John D. Harkrider, co-founder of Apex Petroleum Engineering, Inc. ("Apex") and Apex 70, said that demand for in-basin frac sand continues to grow but is limited by local supply. Our location, infrastructure, and plant design eliminate excess costs so that we are well positioned to be the next reliable, high-volume in-basin supplier.
The business reunites three founders of Apex, Mr. Harkrider, Bill Anthony, and Mitch Kniffin. "The three of us have been through the startup-to-exit journey together. We know how to build a company. We know how to work together. We know what operators need because we've spent our careers on their frac locations," said Mr. Anthony, who has designed hydraulic fracture treatments across four continents over a 35-year career.
Mr. Kniffin, who spent 20 years at Schlumberger before co-founding Apex and now Apex 70, added, "We've stayed close over the years. When this opportunity came together, getting the band back together was the easy part. Our next steps were to assemble the right team. We now have partners who bring years of development and construction expertise, proppant industry sales, large-scale mining operations, and relationships with institutional and family office capital market teams."
"Almost 40% of the proppant pumped in the DJ Basin comes from out-of-basin. DJ operators need competitive, in-basin proppant and we intend to deliver it," said Todd Kaul, a 35-year frac sand veteran in domestic and international sales and operations.
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SOURCE Apex 70 Sand
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