The history of BMC runs deep in Wisconsin. In the years of the early 1900’s the Chier family was involved with mining bank sand in the Berlin, WI area. The bank sand was used by the foundry industry to make molds and cores used to produce iron and steel castings. Clifford A. Chier (C.A. Chier) saw the need for a higher quality sand for the foundry industry to reduce costs and produce higher quality metal castings. In 1946 C.A. Chier left a partnership he was in with a half-brother and purchased a high-quality silica deposit west of the village of Fairwater, WI. In the later 1950’s Clifford’s son Russell (Russ) joined his father in the family business. Together Cliff and Russ grew the high quality silica business throughout the State of WI. In the mid 1960’s Cliff’s son-in-law (George Hess) joined them in the business. In the early 1970’s C.A. Chier Sand Company saw the need to improve the quality of the silica they were selling to the foundry industry. At that time the foundry industry was going through innovative changes requiring a higher quality silica for use in chemical binder systems being developed. With this challenge, the C. A. Chier Sand Company developed the first hydraulic mining and wash plants in the State of Wisconsin. C.A. Chier Sand Company was the only silica operation in Wisconsin offering washed and dried high quality silica sand. Construction of a rail facility was completed allowing the Fairwater Plant to be served by the WSOR, a short-line rail system. This opened many new opportunities to serve the foundry industry outside the Wisconsin area.

In 1979 Cliff made the decision to retire and turn over the family business to Russ and George, transferring ownership into the 2^nd generation and into the Chier and Hess families. A decision was made to enter the gas and oil business with hydraulic fracturing sand.  The company was incorporated, and the name was changed to Badger Mining Corporation. A plant was built near the village of Taylor, WI with the sole purpose to serve the frac sand markets in Texas. The Taylor Plant is located on the Canadian National (CN) rail line, a class-1 railroad serving Canada and many parts of the US. To serve the frac industry better BMC saw the need to build a number of transloads around the US and Canada.

In 1985, Badger Mining researched and implemented a new management philosophy using team concepts and principles. It was a new concept in management at the time and it has evolved through the years, but it is a philosophy that the company believes in and continues to use.

In the late 90’s it was decided that Badger Mining’s systems should be certified to an international quality standard. We chose QS900 as many of our customers supplied automakers and this standard was a requirement. Fairwater, Taylor and the Resource Center were certified to QS 9000 for many years. When the automotive industry developed a standard strictly for those supplying parts that go on the vehicles, Badger Mining became certified to ISO 9001. It is used as a total business system, not just a quality standard and remains certified today.

In 2005 BMC expanded its presence in the frac sand world by partnering to develop a resin coated sand company. The first plant was built near the BMC plant at Taylor, Wisconsin on the CN rail line. Capacity was quickly doubled at the Taylor resin coating plant and demand was high for product. Atlas then constructed a second resin coating plant near Merrillan, Wisconsin on the Union Pacific (UP) rail line. The UP allowed Atlas to better serve destination in southern US. Shortly after a third resin coating plant was constructed near plant number two. In 2015 Atlas Resin Proppants was merged into BMC bring resin coated along with raw sand to the marketplace.

In 2017 BMC saw the need to better serve customers in the Permian Basin of southwest Texas with the construction of a plant near Kermit, Texas. The Kermit plant is located in the northwest portion of the Permian Basin allowing BMC a freight advantage to serve many customers in that region.

BMC has Resource Centers (offices) located in Berlin WI, three sand processing facilities located in Fairwater, Taylor, WI and Kermit, Texas. BMC operates and owns several transload facilities throughout the US and Canada.

Today the ownership of BMC remains in the 3^rd and 4^th generations of Chier and Hess families.