Our surface mines at the Berkeley Springs facility use hard rock mining methods to produce high-purity sandstone. The plant uses propane, fuel oil and electricity to make whole grain, ground, and fine ground silica. Berkeley Springs also produces a synthetic magnesium-silica product called Florisil.
Since acquiring the facility we have renovated and upgraded its production capabilities to enable it to produce multiple products through various processing methods, including primary, secondary and tertiary crushing, grinding, flotation, dewatering, fluid bed drying, mechanical screening and rotary drying processing. Berkeley Springs meets a wide variety of focused specifications from customers producing specialty epoxies, resins and polymers, geothermal energy equipment and fiberglass serving end markets such as glass, building products, foundry, chemicals and fillers and extenders.
Mining at this location has been a part of the local landscape for over a century. The Pennsylvania Glass Sand Company, from Lewistown, PA, came into the area in the late 1800s and acquired much of the land and began what was then known as Berkeley Works. We acquired the Berkeley Springs facility in 1987 by merger with the Pennsylvania Glass Sand Corporation.
