Management

Rick Shearer was elected Chief Executive Officer of our general partner in April 2012 and was appointed to the Board of Directors of our General Partner in May 2014. Since May 2010, Mr. Shearer has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of SSS. Mr. Shearer previously served from March 2007 to May 2010 as President and Chief Executive Officer of Black Bull Resources, a company that specializes in the mining, processing and marketing of industrial minerals that is publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange. Mr. Shearer currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Black Bull Resources. From January 2004 to March 2007, Mr. Shearer served as a member of the board of directors of Excell Minerals, a global stainless steel metals recovery company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, prior to its acquisition by Harsco Corporation in February 2007. Mr. Shearer also previously served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of U.S. Silica Company Inc., a silica sand supplier, from August 1997 to January 2004.

Mr. Shearer served as Founding Chairman of the Industrial Minerals Association of North America, as Vice Chairman of the National Industrial Sand Association and as a Board Member of the Industrial Minerals Association of Europe from 2003 to 2004. Mr. Shearer has a Bachelor of Science degree from Alderson-Broaddus College and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Eastern Michigan University. He is also a graduate of the Executive Management Program at Harvard University.