For more than 80 years, Best Sand Corporation has been mining high-quality silica sand from its 450-acre pit between Bass Lake and Ravenna roads in Munson Township.
For more than 80 years, Best Sand Corporation has been mining high-quality silica sand from its 450-acre pit between Bass Lake and Ravenna roads in Munson Township.
With only enough material to keep customers supplied for a few more years, the company — part of Fairmount Minerals now owned by Covia Corporation — has started making inroads into another 50-plus acres of land nearby.
“What you are seeing is the start of a process to begin mining east of (state Route) 44,” said Tony Madormo, plant manager of Best Sand, which is south of Chardon.
That beginning requires clearing about 20 acres of woods and overburden so equipment can access the valuable sandstone below, he said.
Once the trees and brush are gone, only about six feet of soil and clay will need to be removed, Madormo said.
The overburden will be repurposed as a berm along the road right-of-way. They will also build ramps for the equipment to get down to the sandstone and for trucks to carry it out of the pit, he said.
H&H Land Clearing, of Middlefield, has been removing the trees for weeks in the cold and mud, working around the Fairmount Minerals former headquarters, now abandoned. Getting the mined material to the plant where it can be crushed, washed, dried and sized means setting up a conveyor that will move truckloads of stone from east of Ravenna Road to the west side where the plant is, Madormo said.
“The conveyor will go under (Route) 44,” he said. “We’ve been working with the Ohio Department of Transportation to put a culvert under the road.”
The concrete box culvert will be 10-feet-by-10-feet and about 80 feet long, Madormo said, adding it will create a tunnel for the conveyor to reach from the new pit east of Ravenna Road to the plant on the west side.
One lane of traffic will be maintained while the culvert is installed, probably in July or August, he said.
“We’ll see a lot happening this year,” Madormo said.
The berms will be high, so drivers aren’t distracted by activity in the pit, he said, and ramping into the mine will be started.
At some point, probably before next fall, the old headquarters will be turned over to law enforcement for security drills and, later, to fire departments for fire drills, Madormo said, adding eventually, the building will be demolished.
Covia is working with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the project and there have been studies done to prepare for it, he said.
“We’ve followed all the rules and regulations, done all the permitting,” Madormo said.
He said Best Sand now has 41 employees, so adding the new site will mean hiring up to 15 more workers.
Plans are being made for the 450-acre mine site on the west side of Ravenna Road.
“We’ll reclaim it while using (the last of the material),” Madormo said. “We’ll eventually (make it) a natural habitat for wildlife.”
Covia has partnered with the Wildlife Habitat Council since 2016. The WHC mission on its website is to promote and certify habitat conservation and management on corporate lands through partnerships and education.
“We are very aware and careful how we do things,” Madormo said.
A lake where the public can boat and fish is envisioned, similar to, but much larger than, the 110-acre Best Park to the north of the mine, he said.
The high-quality silica sand is mainly turned into glass, but it is also used in making sports turf, is a component of water filters and it is used in foundries and construction.
“It has a lot of different applications,” he said.
Covia offers a broad array of high-quality mineral and material products and the industry’s most comprehensive and accessible distribution network, according to the company’s website. The corporation has more than 40 plants and 60 operating terminals primarily in the U.S., but also in Canada and Mexico. More information can be found at www.coviacorp.com.
Best Sand is part of Fairmount Santrol, which merged with Unimin Corporation in Connecticut and formed Covia Holdings Corp. in 2018, trading on the New York Stock Exchange as CVIA.
