Smart Sand (SND) Risk Analysis

Our ability to retain existing customers and attract new business is dependent on many factors, including our ability to demonstrate that we can reliably and safely operate all aspects of our business in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws, rules and permits, which legal requirements are subject to change. In addition, certain customers require compliance with their internal safety protocols. Existing and potential customers consider the safety record of their third-party service providers to be of high importance in their decision to engage such providers. If one or more accidents were to occur in connection with our business, the affected customer may seek to terminate, cancel or substantially reduce its business with us, which could cause us to lose substantial revenues. Furthermore, our ability to attract new customers may be impaired if such potential customers elect not to engage us because they view our safety record as unacceptable. In addition, it is possible that we will experience multiple or particularly severe accidents in the future, causing our safety record to deteriorate. This may be more likely as we continue to grow, if we experience high employee turnover or labor shortage, or if we hire inexperienced personnel to bolster our staffing needs.

The mining and processing activities at our facilities require significant amounts of water. Additionally, the development of oil and natural gas properties through fracture stimulation likewise requires significant water use. We have obtained water rights that we currently use to service the activities at our operating facilities, and we plan to obtain all required water rights to service other properties we may develop or acquire in the future. However, the amount of water that we and our customers are entitled to use pursuant to water rights must be determined by the appropriate regulatory authorities in the jurisdictions in which we and our customers operate. Such regulatory authorities may amend the regulations regarding such water rights, increase the cost of maintaining such water rights or eliminate our current water rights, and we and our customers may be unable to retain all or a portion of such water rights. For example, particularly during drought conditions, local governments may curtail water usage for industrial or mineral production purposes. These new regulations, which could also affect local municipalities and other industrial operations, could have a material adverse effect on our operating costs and effectiveness if implemented. Such changes in laws, regulations or government policy and related interpretations pertaining to water rights may alter the environment in which we and our customers do business, which may negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations. The availability of water may also change due to various environmental, demographic, or other pressures, including climate change. For more information, see our risk factor "Climate change could result in various risks for us and our customers."

All of our sand sales are currently produced at our facilities near Oakdale, Wisconsin, Ottawa, Illinois and Blair, Wisconsin. We ship a substantial portion of our sand through our rail terminals. Any adverse development at these facilities, our rail terminals, or on any of the rail lines we use to deliver our sand due to catastrophic events, weather, or any other event that would cause us to curtail, suspend or terminate operations at such facilities or terminals, could result in us being unable to meet our contracted sand deliveries. Although we have access to more than one Class I rail line, we may not be able to facilitate all shipments of product from one facility. We maintain insurance coverage to cover a portion of these types of risks; however, there are potential risks associated with our operations not covered by insurance. There also may be certain risks covered by insurance where the policy does not reimburse us for all of the costs related to a loss. Downtime or other delays or interruptions to our operations that are not covered by insurance could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, under our long-term take-or-pay contracts, if we are unable to deliver contracted volumes and a customer arranges for delivery from a third party at a higher price, we may be required to pay that customer the difference between our contract price and the price of the third-party product.

Natural gas and electricity costs represented approximately 5% of our total cost of goods sold for the year ended December 31, 2025. Natural gas is currently the primary fuel source used for drying in our frac sand production process. Electricity is also relied upon for our washing process. As a result, our profitability will be impacted by the price and availability of natural gas and electricity we purchase from third parties. Because we have not contracted for all of our natural gas usage on a fixed-price basis, our costs and profitability will be impacted by fluctuations in prices for natural gas. The price and supply of natural gas is unpredictable and can fluctuate significantly based on domestic, international, political and economic circumstances, as well as other events outside our control, such as changes in supply and demand due to weather conditions, actions by OPEC, governmental regulations and sanctions, regional production patterns, security threats and environmental concerns. Electricity prices can also be volatile and may fluctuate due to regional generation capacity constraints, transmission congestion, grid reliability concerns, increasing demand, renewable integration challenges, and regulatory or market changes affecting electric utilities or regional transmission organizations. In addition, any operational issues or outages affecting the electric grid, including extreme weather events or insufficient regional power availability, could interrupt our access to electricity and disrupt our production processes. In addition, potential climate change regulations or carbon or emissions taxes could result in higher cost of production for energy, which may be passed on to us in whole or in part. In order to manage the risk of volatile natural gas prices, we may hedge natural gas prices through the use of fixed price supply contracts or derivative financial instruments, such as forwards, swaps and futures. However, these measures carry risk (including nonperformance by counterparties) and do not in any event entirely eliminate the risk of decreased margins as a result of natural gas price increases. We generally do not hedge electricity costs, and increased reliance on electric-powered equipment or tightening emissions regulations affecting power generation could further expose us to increases in electricity prices. We further attempt to mitigate these risks by including in our sales contracts fuel surcharges based on natural gas prices exceeding certain benchmarks. A significant increase in the price of energy that is not recovered through an increase in the price of our products or covered through our hedging arrangements or an extended interruption in the supply of natural gas or electricity to our production facilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.