Buffalo Township grants expanded mining access to MLB stadium contractor
BUFFALO TWP — The township supervisors on Wednesday evening, April 10, approved a conditional use request that will allow a prominent contractor for Major League Baseball teams to expand its clay mining operations in the township.
Natural Sand Co., which does business as DuraEdge, mines red clay and processes it into a special mix for use in baseball infields, batter’s boxes and warning tracks.
According to DuraEdge’s website, the company works on behalf of 26 out of 30 Major League Baseball teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates, as well as Minor League Baseball and college teams.
“Your clay is in the pitching mounds, in the batter’s boxes, and in the infield skin material,” said Kurt Mershimer, project engineer for Natural Sand. “This special clay that is under your land here in Buffalo Township is very unique, and it's what people like, so it goes all around the country and all around the world.”
According to township manager Rich Hill, Natural Sand has had a presence in the township since 2007. While the company’s offices are in Slippery Rock, much of the raw material they use comes from the earth beneath Buffalo Township.
“They mine the clay here, and then they take it up to their plant in Slippery Rock for refining and so forth,” Hill said. “And then they use it for baseball fields and infields and batting boxes and things like that.”
“As my boss likes to say, we make baseball dirt for little kids,” Mershimer said.
When Natural Sand first came to Buffalo Township, they originally operated on 10 acres. Although the company actually owns two parcels in the area which make up 54 acres, they are only allowed to operate on 10 acres through two five-acre permits from Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection.
Todd Coleman of Minetech Engineers spoke on behalf of Natural Sand at the meeting.
“We are nearing the end of the recoverable reserves on those two parcels,” Coleman said.
As a result, Natural Sand is seeking a larger noncoal permit from the DEP which would encompass 36.8 acres. This would include the 10 original acres used for extraction, plus 3.4 acres the company purchased from Leonard Bird Sr., another 1.6 acres purchased from Zone One Real Estate, and 21.8 additional acres from the 54 it already owns.
Township solicitor Brian Farrington recommended approval, as under the township ordinances, mineral extraction counts as an approved conditional use in the parcel’s zoning district, which is A-1 agricultural.
Coleman said Natural Sand and Minetech hope to file the permit application with the DEP by May and expect to have it finalized by late fall.
