Investing In Sand and Sand Services

Sand could be the investment this century.  In the context of "beach nourishment" projects. sand has increased from $1.71 per cubic yard in 1970 to a 2013 price of $14.38 cubic yards (5.1% annual increase).

Two issues to watch - the steady increase in sand prices and the realization that easiest-to-get and the highest quality sand is being also steadily consumed. 

Consider the following from the New Yorker (The Beach Builders by John Seabrook):

"The Corps has nourished the beach at Sea Bright twic since 1995.  It is supposed to be re-nourished every six years, but, when Sandy hit, ten years had passed since the last nourishment; the state had decided that other beaches were in more dire need of sand.  By 2012, as Bocamazo put it, the Sea Bright beach was "not in its designed condition."  It had lost some nine hundred thousand cubic yards of sand.  The beach was scheduled to be re-nourished early in November 2012 - as it turned out, just a few days too late."