Sand: Digging into a crisis?

Laurent Biagetti, the manager of a sand quarry in France's northwestern Normandy region, likens his job to that of an orchestra conductor. Machines dig into the ground, trucks come and go, vessels get loaded with sand on a near-daily basis.

Concrete maker CEMEX scooped out nearly a million tonnes of gravel in 2021 from the mine, from pebbles to fine grains of sand. The different materials will be a key component in the production of concrete and the construction of roads.

"When we exploit a sand mine, we can't just do whatever we want," warns Biagetti. "We need to determine the volumes and areas we'll extract from under a specific timeline," adding that once the reserves run out, the land needs to be restored to its natural state before it's returned to the local constituencies.

The site also collects and recycles rubble, mostly construction waste from the Paris region.

"Sand stocks are becoming increasingly scarce. It's getting very difficult to open quarries or even to extend existing quarries, despite the fact that sand is essential to our everyday lives," he says.

Sand has become the second most exploited resource on Earth after water, with experts warning we could soon reach a crisis point. Even though global stocks might seem infinite, we are in fact depleting sand reserves faster than they can be replenished. Around the world, calls to put a break on the expansion of sand mines are growing louder.

On the French Atlantic coast, a small town of a few thousand inhabitants is rising up against a powerful opponent: two massive sand mines that have been nibbling away at their land.

The mines, run by industry giants Lafarge and GSM, already cover a surface of 115 hectares. The two companies have applied for an extension