Almost a year and a half after plans were announced here, construction is only about 80 percent complete at the sand mining and processing operation owned by U.S. Silica just northwest of Lamesa. But that delay actually is a good thing because the facility’s production capacity has been increased significantly over the original plans, resulting in more construction than originally was anticipated as well as a workforce that will be almost double the original estimates. “Lamesa is U.S. Silica’s largest sand mine,” Billy Ray Smith, Senior Vice President of U.S. Silica and President of Oil and Gas Proppants, told the Press-Reporter on ...