Global demand for sand spawned a worldwide boom in illegal mining (2015)

Jamaican police left stranded after thieves steal a beach This article is more than 17 years old

Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent Mon 20 Oct 2008 19.01 EDT

Thieves in Jamaica have embarrassed police and triggered a political row by stealing a beach - and making a clean getaway.

Hundreds of tonnes of white sand vanished from a planned resort on the island's north coast in July but three months later there is no sign of suspects nor sand.

An estimated 500 truck-loads of sand were removed from the Coral Spring beach in Trelawny and were believed to have been sold to rival resorts, a hefty logistical feat which has stumped police.

"It's a very complex investigation because it involves so many aspects," Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner for crime at the Jamaica Constabulary Force, told the BBC.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/oct/21/jamaica

I can highly recommend watching this Video by practical engineering: Is the World Really Running Out of Sand? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB0qDQFTyE8 (Spoiler: It's not)

I suppose, those who don't like their sand gone are told to go pound ... some alternative.

Growing up in India, this was a huge issue back then. Sand miners were sort of like your alcohol runners. Big mob operations with connections into a bent police force at a high level.

One of those things which needs a strong state to protect the commons. Weak state power is easily outmatched by individual agents of the state conspiring with the mob.

That article is a bit old but I loved this one (a bit more arty) from 2023: https://www.e-flux.com/journal/137/544999/extracting-soverei...

Is it possible to just figure out the ratio of rocks and put them into a grinding machine to make custom sand?

I love that I learned about this from the HBO show Barry